People flock to Cipto to inspect dismembered body

JAKARTA (JP): Scores of people went to the forensic department of state Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta on Tuesday to identify the dismembered body parts of a male found at two separate places a day earlier.

As of last night, the dismembered body was still unidentified but sources at the hospital and city police said that they were closer to deciding whether the body was that of Sugantio, 31, a resident of Cikokol, Tangerang, who has been missing since Saturday last week.

But one of his relatives said he was unsure about the body since he and other family members needed time to discuss other identifying marks on Sugantio's body and check whether Sugantio, who runs a food stall, might still be somewhere.

The head of the hospital's forensic department, Budi Sampurna, said earlier in the afternoon that the dismembered body had an AB blood type.

"Although we're able to make a trace through blood tests (on a number of people), it's not easy work since around 15 percent of Jakartans have that blood type," he told reporters packed into the forensic department.

According to Budi, the victim was killed before dismembering with a very sharp tool took place.

"But I could not determine how much time lapsed between the moment the man was killed and the time his body was butchered," the forensic expert said.

Budi said some parts of victim's body were still missing.

He, however, refused to disclose the missing parts, saying it would only cause public anxiety.

But police and hospital sources said the missing parts included flesh and genital parts.

Budi said the postmortem examination revealed the body had been submerged in water before dismembering occurred.

"The color of the body had changed from brown to a greenish tinge," he said without elaborating.

Budi speculated the killer was an assertive person.

"He (or she) probably has a strong character. He dared to butcher the dead body," he said.

Budi said he was as yet unable to specify the kind of sharp weapon used by the killer to butcher the body.

"It will be up to the police to make public," he said.

Following the postmortem examination, forensic experts at the hospital identified the victim as a male in his 30s (not in his 20s as reported earlier), 160 centimeters tall with a shoe size of between 38 and 39.

Only people with a missing family member were allowed to examine the head of the body after they stated that a picture of the body's head was similar to that of their loved one.

Among the visitors was Suparman who arrived at the hospital at 3 p.m.

He told the hospital staff that his relative Sugantio, a resident of Cikokol, had gone missing last Saturday night in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

Sugantio has two wives: Sumarni who lives with him in Cikokol, and Umi, who lives in Pandeglang, West Java.

After examining the head of the body, Suparman refused to talk further with reporters.

He just said: "I'm not yet sure."

Suparman was still being questioned intensively by police.

Late in the evening, Capt. Jufri of the city police detectives violent crimes unit said the police suspected that the body was that of Sugantio.

He said Suparman was being questioned by police at the hospital's morgue to find out more about the victim.

"I have a feeling that we (police) will be able to disclose this (killing) soon," Jufri said.

The dismembered body parts were found in two separate locations in western Jakarta on Monday afternoon.

The first discovery was the torso at about 12:30 in Rancagede village in Cisoka district (not Cikupa as police stated earlier) of Tangerang, a 30-minute drive from Jakarta.

About half an hour later, a plant trader on Jl. Arjuna, near the Kebun Jeruk toll road entrance, which is the quickest way to Tangerang, reported the discovery of a head, legs and arms.

It was Budi who concluded on Monday that the body parts came from the same person, saying the cuts matched.

In a related development on Tuesday, city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said police detectives were concentrating on the two sites where the body parts were found.

At least three witnesses have been questioned, including those who found the body parts and those who may have seen vehicles that aroused their suspicion in the area before the body parts were found.

"I believe the body parts were not thrown from a passing car, someone had to have got out of a car and placed the box and sacks (containing the body parts). It took time, there must be people who noticed but did not realize that the person had committed a sadistic crime," Noegroho said.

Police also said the alleged murderer was a professional as he or she understood the right method to cut up the human body. (04/asa/emf/41)