KARACHI:
They found her in 10 pieces in four different places.
The body parts were cut into ten, neatly chopped, skinned, wrapped in yellow and blue plastic bags, and scattered in Jamshed Town.
They surfaced over a period of three days within a two-kilometre radius of the Aga Khan Jamaatkhana in Garden East. “The suspect was trying to fool the police or trying to get rid of the body easily so it could not be identified,” coolly remarked Soldier Bazaar Additional SHO Sarfaraz Ali.
The jigsaw puzzle
The lower abdomen and knees were found in a dumpster near the Aga Khan Women Hospital on March 10 by ragpickers. The next day, residents found the head and neck in plastic bags near Al-Fatima Phase II Apartments. On March 12, the chest and other vital organs were found near the Adamjee Government Science College and a few hours later, her arms and legs were found near Nawab Bahadur Yar Jan Road.
It was difficult to breathe at the Civil hospital morgue where her body was on display for forensic experts. They had dipped her slender fingers in black ink for fingerprints. She was wearing white glass bangles. The police claim that some parts were found wrapped in a man’s white corduroy jeans and a woman’s cotton shirt with light brown and silver embroidery.
The medico-legal officer said that there was something odd about the arms. “The skin was scraped off,” said MLO Karar Abbasi. “We think that she had a tattoo or someone’s name was written on her arm so the suspect removed it with a sharp object.”
According to Abbasi’s assistant, Shakeel, who was carefully disentangling her toe and sending it for a DNA sample, the parts belonged to the same woman and she was in her early 40s. The intestines, kidneys, liver were kept on a separate table with her chest. “In the nine years that I have worked here, I have never seen a body where the flesh was so neatly stripped off the bone,” he said. “I have seen a body cut into 17 pieces but never have I seen a woman’s […] chopped and skinned.”
The MLO and police believe that a butcher’s knife might have been used. Her face did not have any bruises. “She had a pale complexion and her hair fell over her shoulders,” said an officer. “She must have been strangled.”
No missing woman complaints have been filed. Police assume she was killed six hours before she was dismembered.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (36)
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@Hmmm:
Well and your logic we should read what we want to read? Even if that does not portrait the full picture or does not reflect the actual intensity of the act?
Let me tell you something, the reason so many people have noticed this story is because of the details in the heading. Just imagine if it had read: "killing in karachi" well how many would have even bothered to read on? While I am all against the journalistic activism or hyped up news stories but facts still need to be presented the way they are.
@Omer: Going by your logic we should also show such bodies in the TV telecast - after all we are all adults and we care only about reality. Get a life dude
ET for gods sake introduce the "like" "dislike" "recommend" "report as indecent/inappropriate" options for user comments! Let freedom of expression prevail please. If some comments are inappropriate let the readers mark them as inappropriate rather than people sitting behind their desk at ET deciding what is right and what is wrong!
I hope my this comment gets published. Lets see how impartial and upholder of freedom of expression ET really is!
@Tyrone Tellis:
Self censorship? No thank you.
We are adults who would like to know what is happening in our society exactly the way it is happening. No cosmetic journalism please. If someone can't handle the truth, well then go read cosmopolitan or whatever else that pleases you.
All those saying the writer should have been less graphic what do you mean to say? That the author should have just said a mutilated body has been found? How many of you would have cared about this story then? Closing your eyes from reality will never help you. Someone from within our society is killing with such brutality someone from the same society that we live in and thats a Fact! Don't like facts? Go watch oscars or a new music video thats out then: Losers!
I hope our police are capable of carrying out a thorough forensic examination as well as they are capable of giving an accused "drawing room ki ser" or "liter parade".
Joking aside, this looks like the work of a serial killer. And it is strange no one has reported the woman missing. Could the woman have been a prostitute ? Police should investigate all avenues. Killer probably lives around the area and is familiar with it, hence the distribution of parts around the area. There might be a message in what was left where.
Brave, brave, Rabia! By today's staggering journalistic standards, this is unconventional. But I'm sure, we'll have journalists like that of Edna Buchanan in future.
The following reporter is inspired by the all seasons of 24 !
Some one who knows the anatomy of human/animal body, must have access to various kinds of knives, has skill and patience, has a secluded place, plenty of water access to clean of the dismembering, has a vehicle and knows the area well, likely local person who has a regular job, may even be a college graduate.
Likely male, loner, looks harmless, must have committed prior murders like this. His finger prints will be all over the plastic bags and is easily recoverable by acrylic glue fumigation method. Tracing the usages of the yellow and blue plastic bags will lead to the killer. He must have bought the products packaged in yellow and blue plastic bags.
Unlikely to be any connection between the murderer and the victim, and the victim was likely to be living on her own, and the killer would have known her movements well.
Her skin is a trophy, souvenir, collected by the killer.
sounds like a pakistani version of jack the ripper is on the loose.
That is weird, they have not identified her yet. Incidents like these happen everywhere, you will find psychos in every soceity and country.
Time for Astaghfar better to do it NOW.
Brutality & barbarism at its worst indeed. Ya Allah please have mercy upon us. Women are made to be loved & respected not be be killed in such a heinous manner. May Allah guard & guide us all ....
@THE: Freaking 1000& agree with you!
@THE: True. Some of the grisliest murders have been committed in USA by Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Albert Fish, etc. But do you know what makes USA different from I.R.Pakistan? All these sick murderers were caught, sentenced to death and executed, unlike in this country where they roam about freely and are hardly ever convicted, let alone executed.
Please catch this guy. This is absolutely disgusting and scary.
Why do people start blaming the "Pakistani society" for these kind of acts? This is a very rare case, I understand when people talk about acid throwing being a "social problem" but this kind of murder etc is not common in Pakistan. I have heard of more horrific murders and chopping of body parts in the US and other parts of the world. With that being said, the police should be looking for a person who has experience either as a bucther or someone in the medical field either someone who was once a medical student or at least a health care worker etc. I am saying this since this kind of work cannot be done by a first time killer or someone who doesn't have the right tools and experience in doing these things. I am 100% sure that a serial killer is on the loose here and this is not his/her last kill!!!! Bottomline: This case should be taken very seriously and investigated because the kind of people who do this mostly have 20+ kills to their name.
@MK: This stuff has been happening since the dawn of humanity. Nothing new.
And what good has this reporter done by describing the "pieces" in such "fine detail"? We come to ET for news, not thriller novels.
What you have done might be called the amplification of vice and torture and it serves no purpose.
A Dexter, on job.
Why are people blaming the writing for such gruesome details. It all happened in a gruesome way and thats exactly how it has been described. Infact the journalist was brave enough to cover such story and alarm us about the society. Walk in their shoes someday and you would know .
oh God. where are we headed as a society, as humankind and as a nation. All we care about is Veena Malik and lawn exhibitions.
I remember around a month or back a same kind of an incident took place in my area, PECHS Block 6. A women was found in six pieces. Her body and limbs were found near hill park (shaheed-e-millat side road) and her head was found on razi road, near the PECHS telephone exchange. According to reports and a few eye witnesses (one of whom was my maid) said that the women was in her mid 30's, fair and pretty. Is this a serial killer on the lose?...authorities should take it seriously.... God help us all!
Serial Killer
What is this? Why the gruesome detailed description? do we have any journalistic ethics?
ASTAGHFIRULLAH........ our society really needs one thorough psychotherapy session.....
Gory! Unbelieveable! We used to criticize west but we have worst characters than Jack the ripper. Sickening.
Sorry but your writer has gone too far is she trying to describe a crime or write a crime novel?
I understand the objective but the description is too graphic!
Please practice self censorship in future!
Astaghfirullah!! Our society requires one thorough psychotherapy session.......... this is brutality at its worst!
What makes us Pakistanis behave like beasts? Is this civilized behaviour?
Just one more example of the bestiality of the Pakistani society.