A woman's dismembered body has been found in a French Quarter apartment in New Orleans.
The woman's burned head was submerged in a pot of water on the stove, her charred limbs placed in the oven and her torso stuffed in the refrigerator.
Domestic violence has risen since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, but even veteran police officers say they were shocked by the discovery.
Police, who have not identified the woman, were led to the remains by a note found on the body of Zackery Bowen (28) after he apparently committed suicide by jumping off a French Quarter hotel on Tuesday.
The handwritten note said he had strangled and dismembered the woman he described as his girlfriend on October 5th in a dispute over the apartment lease, police said. The note included directions to the apartment.
The apartment where the body was found is in a building that houses a voodoo shop, but a police spokesman said: "We can't find any motive other than it was a domestic thing between him and her," he said.
Police have seen a rise in domestic violence since Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29th, 2005, flooding New Orleans and killing about 1,500.