Police investigating case of severed head

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)