Why dismember?

[Etilema]

One of the questions I have regarding dismembering poor Zahra's precious little body is why go to the trouble; the added mess and added likelihood of creating, and leaving more evidence in the home (where the dismemberment took place), only for EB to flip so quickly and reveal where the body parts were disposed of. JMO - but to me, the individual who actually performed the dismemberment, who went to this length to conceal COD and/or discovery of the body, would have held out longer, if not entirely, from revealing where the body parts were disposed of. JMO though ~

This is my thinking, too. It makes me wonder about the accomplice theory, etc. That she so quickly revealed info, but not THE info.

JMO

 

[Dr. Know?]

The dismemberment just blew my mind like it has all of you. My first thought of why after Zahra's remains were found is that her remains were at least in two places. If her remains were found at the Dudley location, she would be missing a bone. Was it a leg bone found on Christie? I tend to think it was by guessing. I'm hoping the only dismemberment is that of her leg and the rest of her body was intact.

If that's the case, maybe the upper leg was removed to hide evidence of infection/gangrene that had been neglected the proper care. At the same time, make it look more like a kidnapping gone bad. After time, I wonder if that infection would be hard to determine when examined due to bone marrow loss for testing.

 

[panthera]

The dismemberment just blew my mind like it has all of you. My first thought of why after Zahra's remains were found is that her remains were at least in two places. If her remains were found at the Dudley location, she would be missing a bone. Was it a leg bone found on Christie? I tend to think it was by guessing. I'm hoping the only dismemberment is that of her leg and the rest of her body was intact.

If that's the case, maybe the upper leg was removed to hide evidence of infection/gangrene that had been neglected the proper care. At the same time, make it look more like a kidnapping gone bad. After time, I wonder if that infection would be hard to determine when examined due to bone marrow loss for testing.

What you're suggesting, I believe, could be detected through autopsy as such an infection would spread to the rest of her body; however, minus blood I'm not so sure. Good point, although I still believe it's more criminal. MOO

 

[wenwe4]

What you're suggesting, I believe, could be detected through autopsy as such an infection would spread to the rest of her body; however, minus blood I'm not so sure. Good point, although I still believe it's more criminal. MOO

What are the laws for "criminal neglect of a child" there? Sad to say, but in my experience this carries very little prison time comparatively to 1st or 2nd degree murder.

 

[impatientredhead]

What you're suggesting, I believe, could be detected through autopsy as such an infection would spread to the rest of her body; however, minus blood I'm not so sure. Good point, although I still believe it's more criminal. MOO

I don't believe the infection, cancer, any medical neglect theories either. They were on the radar of CPS, they moved frequently possibly to avoid continued investigations (of course Adam was unaware of that too). She either had a fatal injury that they did not take to the hospital because they would be suspected, or Z had so many bruises and marks on her body from previous abuse that she couldn't be seen by anyone, or a combination of the two.

EB likes attention, she likes scams, a child as beautiful as Z, with Z's story, that had another cancer bout, or serious health issue that was not caused by EB/AB would be a windfall to EB. At least for a little while. She would have milked it for attention, money, and gifts for awhile, until jealousy got the best of her.

 

[myzzy]

all i can think for a reason would be paranoid and drugs. I cant believe ANY sane person could dismember someone. Way different level of mental

 

[april_showers]

I can't entirely see dismemberment being planned/executed solely for cover-up. First, I think of people like Casey Anthony, who put seemingly no effort into disposal, yet still tasked investigators with the same challenges (proving cause of death, etc). Then I see a lack of any other well-executed planning on EB's part (random note, 911 call debacle etc).

One would think dismembering would carry risks that could almost outweigh any "benefits" - the chance of being caught in the act, blood splatter, leaving body parts in multiple locations, just to name a few.

So, in my opinion, either the "benefit" of dismembering was so great that it outweighs this risk (hiding sexual assault, for instance?)

-OR-

The dismembering had nothing to do with a cover-up, and was carried out for other reasons (part of a sadistic crime, etc)

JMO

 

[panthera]

I can't entirely see dismemberment being planned/executed solely for cover-up. First, I think of people like Casey Anthony, who put seemingly no effort into disposal, yet still tasked investigators with the same challenges (proving cause of death, etc). Then I see a lack of any other well-executed planning on EB's part (random note, 911 call debacle etc).

One would think dismembering would carry risks that could almost outweigh any "benefits" - the chance of being caught in the act, blood splatter, leaving body parts in multiple locations, just to name a few.

So, in my opinion, either the "benefit" of dismembering was so great that it outweighs this risk (hiding sexual assault, for instance?)

-OR-

The dismembering had nothing to do with a cover-up, and was carried out for other reasons (part of a sadistic crime, etc)

JMO

However, in this case, *if* both adults in the house were in on the crime and dismemberment, there wouldn't be the same risks of being caught in the act. It would also make it easier to dispose of the remains in several locations, by giving the appearance of dumping a bag of trash as opposed to an intact body being left in one place. MOO

 

[Hickory Born]

I don't know what the laws are concerning a death at home, but in PA, you have to have an autopsy. My uncle died in his sleep at home in his bed and the law required one.

There is no good reason to have done what they did to this little girl. None! If she died at home, they should have called 911. If the excuse is we didn't have money to bury her, why not give her a respectable grave in the back yard? Not that I agree with even that, but now that you can't prove a natural death, you give reason for murder, abuse, rape, incest.... So now they have given a jury reason to doubt a natural death because they tried to destroy her body. What person would want to do such a heinous thing to a child? It is beyond me, but what isn't, is this child was murdered.

Bern, I had a relative die at home (natural causes) in Hickory, NC and the law was that the body had to have an autopsy.

 

[Reannan]

I think it was effective, as plans go. Obscure the COD and what can you really be charged with? Pretty well thought out in my mind.

They knew that someone was going to come looking for Zahra eventually. She was on the radar of quite a few people, not to mention DSS. Apparently thing had gotten to the point where they could not cart her around anymore if you believe the decomp hits by the dogs.

Scatter her to the 4 winds and hope that you can claim she died a natural death which they were "afraid" to report. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

It takes a lot of stones to take someone apart-especially a child. I would love to know if either of them grew up on a farm? You have to be able to detach yourself I would think.

I had actually thought about this myself. I grew up on a farm where we literally grew the food we ate. We farmed about 20 acres of land for our vegetables and every year, in the fall, we slaughtered a cow and a pig for our meat. To this day, I don't know how my parents did it all. I vividly remember the days when Daddy would kill the cow or the pig and I would sit in my room and cry and cry and cry. Then.... I would go outside and help prepare the meat. It was what we did. It was the only way of life my parents had ever known. Today, I proudly go to Publix and Kroger! Whew! If my family was starving, and there was a reason I could not go to Publix or Kroger, I could and would do it again. Never, ever, not in a million, trillion, billion years - on any planet in the Universe would my parents have been capable of dismembering me if I had died. Add to that one million times over, and you would have the chances of me being able to dismember one of my children if they died.

 

[Yellow Rose]

I had actually thought about this myself. I grew up on a farm where we literally grew the food we ate. We farmed about 20 acres of land for our vegetables and every year, in the fall, we slaughtered a cow and a pig for our meat. To this day, I don't know how my parents did it all. I vividly remember the days when Daddy would kill the cow or the pig and I would sit in my room and cry and cry and cry. Then.... I would go outside and help prepare the meat. It was what we did. It was the only way of life my parents had ever known. Today, I proudly go to Publix and Kroger! Whew! If my family was starving, and there was a reason I could not go to Publix or Kroger, I could and would do it again. Never, ever, not in a million, trillion, billion years - on any planet in the Universe would my parents have been capable of dismembering me if I had died. Add to that one million times over, and you would have the chances of me being able to dismember one of my children if they died.

Yikes! Glad I didn't grow up on a farm. I'm such an animal lover it would have killed me to be a part of that. Though I do realize that this is what goes on on a daily basis around the country on those farms.

I honestly believe they dismembered her to cover evidence of abuse, both sexual and physical. In their twisted, evil minds.... They may have even rehearsed such a thing in the underground world they seemed to live in...:furious:

 

[writer7]

The only thing that makes any sense to me is to obscure the cause of death or abuse. (I wondered previously about obscuring the fact that they were carrying a body, but carrying big old covers makes that really stupid).

I really wish we knew which bone was found separate from the rest. Was it buried originally?

I'm thinking maybe it was the skull they were trying to hide the hardest

 

[scmom]

I'm speculating that dismemberment was done solely for the purpose of convenience. If the body was in rigor it would have been difficult (especially for one person) to move or to conceal.

 

[passionflower]

oops quoted the wrong person - this was in response to the Levi Program mentioned by Passionflower - so sorry for misquoting here.

I guess I didn't hear the program - was this just speculating? I don't believe we have heard from LE anything except the word "Bone". As far as I know, the only dismemberment that happened was one bone, as I believe the rest of the remains were intact. I could be totally wrong here - just what my neurons have pieced together. I believe the "bone" they found was her upper femur from the amputated leg. I don't have anything to support that belief - just a gut feeling.

this is from the show that I copied 11/30 Levi page Show blog radio

 

[passionflower]

These perps abused Zahra in LIFE and had to do it again in DEATH................
no conscience at all.............

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I think dismemberment would be done by the perp if they thought it would be harder to identify the remains if and when found.

I was curious so I googled searched "dismembered bodies" and was floored to see so many cases where the body or bodies were dismembered and some done by teenagers. So that sure shows me it can be done by an adult. There were too many of them to read through but the ones I scanned.........they all knew their victim or victims.

Imo, by dismembering it shows that the perp and the victim had a personal attachment and link, imo. Most murderers that don't know their victims don't take the time to dismember the bodies.

IMO

 

[Kamille]

The dismemberment just blew my mind like it has all of you. My first thought of why after Zahra's remains were found is that her remains were at least in two places. If her remains were found at the Dudley location, she would be missing a bone. Was it a leg bone found on Christie? I tend to think it was by guessing. I'm hoping the only dismemberment is that of her leg and the rest of her body was intact.

If that's the case, maybe the upper leg was removed to hide evidence of infection/gangrene that had been neglected the proper care. At the same time, make it look more like a kidnapping gone bad. After time, I wonder if that infection would be hard to determine when examined due to bone marrow loss for testing.

Since the only dismemberment that has been made public at this time is the one bone found at Christy Rd, I tend to agree with you that it may have been just her amputated leg that was dismembered from the rest of her. Of course the topic of this thread and the big question is why?

Considering that this bone and the gel liner were found in an area known for dumping, and not buried, it leads me to wonder if this was not part of the "kidnapping" plan gone wrong. If LE had believed the kidnapping plot, they would be searching for a missing child. If an amputated limb, complete with gel liner were found rather quickly by someone who was dumping something in the same area, then it would be known that Zahra was deceased at the hands of the "kidnappers". AB and EB would then be grieving parents of a murdered child and the search for the rest of Zahra's remains would have been centered around that same area. They never would have been found there and the whole case would likely have gone cold.

Just another theory.

MOO

 

[salvarenga]

Why dismember?

Simple answer....EVIL, PURE EVIL!

 

[butwhatif?]

Until we know what type of dismemberment actually ocurred I think it's hard to say.

I just made myself sick looking at pictures of dismembered bodies, and it's usually the limbs and head that are dismembered.

So unless it was an atypical type of dismemberment (not that there's any kind that I find normal) I can't really see it being done to hide evidence of sexual abuse. Think about what that would entail. I just can't go there unless there is evidence to support it.

Convenience in disposal/making it more difficult for the body to be identified are the only things I see as being a viable theory atm.... Or that possibly someone got a kick out of it. :sick:

If it's true that there are only two dump sites, then it's possible that the job was started, but they realised how difficult it would be, and gave up mid-job.

Why go to the trouble of dismembering a body then dump most of it in one location, and one piece in another?

I guess I should stop trying to apply any logic in this case because none of it makes sense.
MOO

 

[Reannan]

This hurts me to write what I am going to say. I sadly fear that the dismemberment was something that escalated from the death. That horrible thought has swirled just beneath my consciousness when I first saw the pictures of the home where LE had removed the wall behind where Zahra's bed would have been and the floor beneath the side of the bed. It isn't practical to dismember someone on a bed. :sick: I believe they found the thigh of Zahara's left leg on Christie Rd. with the gel liner from her prosthesis. It is sort of interesting that these two items would have been discarded together. I believe they found her skull at the Dudley Rd. location beside the creek. I believe this because of the way LE announced that they had found "remains" and that they "were consistent with a child". Reports indicated they were excavating a "small hole" in the ground. I believe LE has information we have not yet heard that leads them to know, there is no point in looking for any additional remains. If accidental death had occurred, the smart thing would have been for AB and EB to just go to Australia. They could have told everyone in Australia that Zahra was with EB's family back in the US. They could have told everyone in the US that Zahra was with AB's family somewhere in Australia. I tragically, truly believe that Zahra's bio-Mom finding here 3 days before she went missing had something to do with this case. If Zahra had been raped/abused in the recent weeks, and found out her Mom was looking for her, it could have set AB and EB into desperation, furious-at-the-situation coverup mode. No matter what - it adds up to evil. :furious: