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)