Women's multilation done in 'panic', expert says

Women's multilation done in 'panic', expert says

JAKARTA (JP): The body of the woman who was found in Tangerang
on Sunday was dismembered in a hurry with a sharp saw probably
while the murderer was panicking, a forensic expert said
yesterday.

The Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's forensic department
head Budi Sampurna said the body had been mutilated at least 36
hours before the remains, cut into 12 pieces, were dumped at a
site near Cisauk railway station in Serpong.

"The dismemberment was hurriedly done, probably because the
murderer wanted to pack the body into the boxes quickly," Budi,
who examined the body Monday, told reporters.

He disagreed with the assumption made by one of his
colleagues, who said the murderer was a professional with
knowledge of how to dismember a body.

"If it was committed by a professional, the body should have
been cut at every joint."

Out of the 12 body pieces, only the right leg was cut at its
joint, Budi added.

Budi's colleague Zulhasmar Syamsu told The Jakarta Post Monday
that the murderer was a professional and, based on his
examination of the incisions on the body, might be a psychopath.

"It seems that the killer had sawn the body. Judging from the
incisions, he or she may have been exacting revenge on the
victim," said Zulhasmar, who also works at the Tangerang general
hospital, where the body was first kept before being sent for
further examination at Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital.

Zulhasmar, who is also a senior team member in the examination
of the body, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

According to Budi, the victim was killed before the body was
mutilated, but his team had yet to conclude the cause of death.

"We have to find the body segment of the neck to the waist
before we can make a conclusion about the cause of death," he
said.

He added that the forensic team had found a bruise on the back
of the head.

"But that's not the cause of her death," he explained.

Budi identified the victim as a woman between 23 and 35 years
old, with short, thick, black hair who had been pregnant during
her lifetime.

The woman was between 148 centimeters and 155 centimeters
tall, plumpish, with sallow skin, he said.

Budi called on people who have missing relatives with such
characteristics to report to the Tangerang Police.

The female remains have been kept in a refrigerator at the
Tangerang general hospital morgue since Monday following the
completion of the examination of the body at Cipto Mangunkusumo
hospital.

Morgue employee Tono told the Post last night that there has
been only one man, from Jelambar in West Jakarta, who came to see
if the body was that of his relative, who has been missing for
days.

"After taking a close look at the remains, the man said that
the body was not his relative," Tono said.

The hospital had been asked by the Tangerang police to keep
the remains for an undetermined period, hoping that the victim's
relatives would appear.

"Usually, we bury unidentified bodies after three days," Tono
added.

Police and witnesses said the female remains, packed in three
cardboard boxes, were carried by a man, who then asked three
teenagers to dump the boxes.

The police yesterday decided to protect the three teenagers,
whose identities have been widely exposed by print and broadcast
media, by putting them temporarily under police protection.

"We're afraid the killer could also execute these important
witnesses," said a police detective.

Along with the human remains in the boxes, police also found a
saw, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, an eraser, a pen and a small
ball. (41/jun)