  Fragmentation of highly charged molecular ions or clusters consisting of more
than two atoms can proceed in an onestep synchronous manner where all bonds
break simultaneously or sequentially by emitting one ion after the other. We
separated these decay channels for the fragmentation of CO23+ ions by measuring
the momenta of the ionic fragments. We show that the total energy deposited in
the molecular ion is a control parameter which switches between three distinct
fragmentation pathways: the sequential fragmentation in which the emission of
an O+ ion leaves a rotating CO2+ ion behind that fragments after a time delay,
the Coulomb explosion and an in-between fragmentation - the asynchronous
dissociation. These mechanisms are directly distinguishable in Dalitz plots and
Newton diagrams of the fragment momenta. The CO23+ ions are produced by
multiple electron capture in collisions with 3.2 keV/u Ar8+ ions.
