Police investigating case of severed head

JAKARTA (JP): Police in Jakarta and their counterparts in Bajan district of Purworejo, Central Java, have yet come to any conclusion about the owner of the head and the headless body which were separately found in East Jakarta and Bajan district recently.

East Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Tjiptono said on Sunday that the latest information he received from Purworejo indicated that the body at the Sardjito hospital had been "badly violated" and that it could have been a "case of rape."

"I'm guessing it could be a case of jealousy in a homosexual affair. But we'll see how the investigation goes," Tjiptono explained.

The head of a teenage boy was found on Friday by a bus conductor at the entrance gate to the Kampung Rambutan intercity bus terminal, East Jakarta, while the headless body -- said to be also of a teenage boy -- found almost at the same time in Purworejo, some 500 kilometers away from the capital.

On Saturday, a group team of city police detectives brought the decomposed head to Sardjito hospital in Purworejo to see if it fits the headless body there.

"So far, I haven't received any information from the team led by Capt. Dharma. They might have to wait there for a few more days," city police detectives boss Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said on Sunday.

According to Tjiptono, a few witnesses had been questioned here.

"But I cannot give you the names of those questioned, since it could jeopardize the investigation," he said.

"The killer could have killed the boy at Bayan and then came here. Upon arriving at Kampung Rambutan terminal, he could have laid the head there," the officer speculated.

Meanwhile, forensic doctor Wibisana of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital said on Sunday that several strands of the victim's hair had also been brought by the police team to Purworejo.

"Let the forensics team at the Sardjito hospital there check the blood type of the boy," Wibisana said over the phone.

He added that since there was no body, he could not give much information.

"An autopsy done on the head of the boy revealed that the incident happened very recently... about two or three days before the head was found. It's definitely chopped off. The boy looks close to 15 years old," he said. (ylt/03)