Chapters 5-6, Flotsam and Jetsam, When the Sickness Is Your Soul Summary and Analysis

Maples encounters four or five dismemberment cases each year that are both challenging and frustrating. These cases identify brutal, cold murderers who take apart fresh human bodies. It takes quite an effort to do so; dismemberment is bloody, messy and dangerous. However, dismemberment is very effective at hiding an identity. In dismemberment cases, the victim is already dead, so Maples must put himself in the mind of a murderer, cutting his victim into pieces. Most dismemberment is done in bathtubs. The initial crimes often occur along the interstate. At one time, hacksaws are most often used to dismember bodies and, while effective, they are easy to identify in the lab. However, now chainsaws are used to save time, though they are...