People flock to Cipto to inspect dismembered body

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)