Police have made an arrest in connection with the gruesome discovery of human body parts in three different South Florida cities.
Jamie Saffran, 51, is charged with murder after he was arrested around 8 a.m. Tuesday.
SWAT units descended on Saffran's home and arrested him with out incident, as homicide detectives from Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Miami-Dade County police and Broward Sheriffs Deputies scoured his home and surrounding property. Crime scene investigators even carried outside dozens of household items so they and the interior of the home could be examined more closely, suggesting the aggressive nature of the search warrant.
“We will not stop,” said Fort Lauderdale police spokesperson Frank Sousa, "until all leads are explored, all tips are pursued, and all evidence is either confirmed or found to be negative."
Police did not release the identity of the victim, only saying he was an acquaintance of Saffran's.
On Nov. 9, patrons at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant found a container filled with body parts and mixed cement. Police also found a shoe and some eyeglasses.
Just a few days later and miles away in Dania Beach, an employee at a auto parts shop found a bucket with a bloody head in it. It was also partially covered in cement.
Forensics linked the two and it didn't take long before a third set of human remains was found, this time behind a Miami-Dade middle school on Nov. 26.
Neighbors on Saffran’s beautiful street of 15 homes on large lots just off Davie Road and Stirling say he was always very friendly, mowed his lawn, threw parties, even helped his neighbor fix a fence. His wife Fatima was well liked as was a beautiful daughter who is an accomplished baton twirler.
Jenny Muniz, who lives directly across the street from Saffran, said “it’s very bizarre” to be told that a man suspected of a grisly murder lives across the street. "It’s completely out of character" for Saffran, she said.
Muniz did say, however, that four or five “creepy things have happened” recently when a mysterious vehicle would park in the street in front of Saffran’s home in the middle of the night “for hours” with one person inside the vehicle.
Police are not saying whether any body parts were found in the Davie home or on the property, or whether they believe the murder took place there.
