Dismembered body still unidentified

BOGOR (JP): Police are still in the dark over the identity of a dismembered male body found buried in the yard of a resident of Kampung Bojong in Gunung Putri here.

The discovery of a head, torso, two arms and two legs was reported on Sunday when the house owner, Haji Kaman, asked neighbors to help him pull out a decaying palm tree in front of his house.

When the residents pulled out the tree, which was planted a few months ago, they unintentionally dragged up the edge of a plastic carpet. Further digging revealed the body parts.

Parts of the body were already decomposing.

The body parts are now being kept at the PMI Hospital in Bogor for further examination.

Besides the body parts, the residents also found an elementary school uniform bearing the name of Bambang Ari P, a saw, believed to have been used to dismember the body, and a newspaper dated Dec. 18, 1998.

"We'll strive to trace the identity of the victim to solve this case as soon as possible," Bogor Police chief Col. Hari Setyabudhi said.

Kaman recalled the house's former tenant was a man. "Last December, the house was rented by a man at Rp 60,000 (US$8) per month," Kaman said, insisting that he did not know him.

Sugianto, a resident of Nusa Jaya housing complex in Tangerang, who claimed to be Bambang's father, went to PMI hospital on Tuesday.

After inspecting the body parts, he said it was not his son, who was kidnapped by a group of men on Nov. 4, 1998.

The grisly discovery was the second of its kind this year. On July 12, Jakartans were stunned by the findings of dismembered male body parts at two separate locations in West Jakarta.

Shortly afterwards, police declared that the victim was 33- year-old Sumarsana, a quality control supervisor of PT Lion Star, a plastic household manufacturer.

However, Jakarta Police remained tightlipped on whether they named any suspects in the crime, following intensive questioning of several witnesses and the victim's close friends. (21/emf)