Police try to match dismembered body to Atlanta missing

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By Christian Boone and Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Police are trying to determine whether a dismembered body found Monday belongs to one of several missing Atlanta women.

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Crime scene tape hangs on a fence near the vacant lot where a dismembered body was found on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard at Elm Street in Atlanta.

Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com Crime scene tape hangs on a fence near the vacant lot where a dismembered body was found on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard at Elm Street in Atlanta.

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A man pushies a cart holding his belongings past the vacant lot where a dismembered body was found on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard at Elm Street in Atlanta.

Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com A man pushies a cart holding his belongings past the vacant lot where a dismembered body was found on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard at Elm Street in Atlanta.

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Atlanta Police Maj. Keith Meadows confirmed at least two matches of missing women fitting the description of the body.

While Meadows told WSB Radio early Monday evening that those two women's ages were in the late 20s and early 30s, he later said the number of matches had grown.

"We have more than that now," Meadows told the AJC. "We have to go through the elimination process."

Cadaver dogs were searching the immediate area after the woman's body was discovered Monday afternoon.

Police discontinued the search around 6:30 p.m., but will return Tuesday to search through vacant homes in the area, Meadows said.

A woman cutting through a vacant lot at the corner of Elm Street and Joseph E. Boone Boulevard stumbled upon the naked female corpse that was missing its head and hands and wrapped in a comforter, Meadows said.

An autopsy will be performed on the body Tuesday morning by the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office, but a spokesperson for the office said identification will be difficult without the head to gather dental records, or the hands pull finger prints.

The body was discovered at around 2:25 p.m. in the west Atlanta neighborhood known as the Bluffs.

"She didn't think it was a body at first," said Jamilah Garth, whose friend discovered the body. "So she went up to it and kicked it, and she said she just started screaming."

Investigators believe the woman was murdered elsewhere and dumped at the lot, Meadows told the AJC.

"It appears the body has been here a couple of days," he said. "It's never easy to work cases like this."

Garth said her friend had just left Garth's apartment when the body was found. The friend ran back to Garth's apartment after her discovery.

"The head ... the hands were just cut off," Garth said, repeating what she said her friend described. "Her arms ... they were laying there."

Return to ajc.com for updates.