To Erase Traces, Depok Mutilation Suspect Discarded Victim's Legs in River

Police have stated that the motive for 26-year-old Saepul’s mutilation of 51-year-old Kunaefi was to eliminate evidence of the murder he had committed. The victim’s dismembered body was wrapped in black plastic and placed inside a rice sack. The sack containing the remains was then discarded by the perpetrator in an empty lot in Pancoran Mas, Depok.

‘To erase the traces, the perpetrator mutilated the victim’s body at the upper thigh,’ said the Head of Public Relations for the Metro Jaya Regional Police, Senior Commissioner Budi Hermanto, to reporters on Wednesday (5/8). The perpetrator did not stop there; he also disposed of the victim’s severed legs in a river at a different location to prevent their discovery. ‘The two severed legs were thrown into a river stream in the Pitara area, Pancoran Mas,’ Budi added.

Residents of Pancoran Mas, Depok, were shocked on Tuesday (4/8) by the discovery of a human body without legs on a vacant plot of land. The remains were suspected to be those of a mutilation victim. The discovery began when a witness named Herni spotted a sack at the location on Friday (24/7) at around 7:00 AM Western Indonesian Time. The witness assumed the sack contained rubbish and informed her younger brother, Muhammad Rizkywan. On Tuesday afternoon, Rizkywan intended to burn the sack, which he still believed was filled with rubbish. However, as the sack melted, the witness saw human body parts inside and immediately reported the incident to the local community police officer. Following an investigation, police arrested the suspect, Saepul, in the Pandeglang area of Banten while he was attempting to flee in the early hours of Wednesday.