Body Disposal Question (for story, I swear!)

wood chipper?

I don't about fertiliser.But you could use a industrial mincer and feed the meat to a dog.Also, treat some guests to a nice roast.Tastes like pork,so I've been told.

Promession would be a good alternative, if you could find some way to get the body to Sweden.

Pig feed. Look up Robert Pickton if you have any questions.

Lime will render a corpse into goop, but it will turn the fats into soaps and still be pretty caustic at the end. Lime's used in agriculture... my parents used it to counter the acidity in the soil.

Otherwise, I'd go with the industrial grinder or the pigs.

Drachen Jager said:

Pig feed. Look up Robert Pickton if you have any questions.

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That's the serial killer who came to mind for me too.
Yuck, I pity the cops who had to deal with that farm.

I was going to use the old wood chipper to dispose of my victims, but the good old Swedes have given me a new way. Thanks Haggis.

The Resurrectionist said:

Anyone know of a good way to render someone's body into fertilizer without the neighbors noticing?

The murderer in question is planning on using said fertilizer somewhere public, so plain ol' body burial isn't an option. Originally I had the killer cremating the victim in a basement woodstove, but realized that probably wouldn't work (and the neighbors would notice a funny smell). Composting a victim would take too long, and probably be noticed by the murderer's housemate.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

(Writers need the strangest help sometimes)

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I second the wood chipper suggestion.

RJK said:

I was going to use the old wood chipper to dispose of my victims, but the good old Swedes have given me a new way. Thanks Haggis.

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De nada.

If you want to use it as fertilizer, then lime would be the easy way to make it useful. After it has been reduced to slime, you should separate the soap and dry it. Before spreading it, I think that it would be a good idea to mix it with a larger quantity of commercial fertilizer. If the bones do not dissolve, then you can burn them and grind them; they should also be spread as fertilizer. There would be that soap. The quantity would depend on how fat the person was.

I keep thinking about writing about the owner of a deli who makes his own sausages to get rid of his victims. One bit would have him feeding the local police hot dogs while they were discussing the most recent missing person case.

See also: Sweeney Todd

One of my grandfather's friends got partially eaten by a hog. Long story, and he may have died first from alcohol poisoning or related stuff. Yep, pigs really do work.

I'm also thinking jerky or cured remains. Shredded (woodchipped?) jerky mixed in with other mulch and composting materials would go unnoticed, I think. It attracts different kinds of animals, bugs and worms still, but not like fresh uncured stuff does. Certain flies might still give it away, but the neighbors would have to be knowledgable about that one way or another.

I'd totally mix it with bone meal, too -- a garden amendment -- to explain away any of those clues. Bone meal is ground animal bones

ETA: you'd have to be careful with a lot of this stuff about how you use the fertilizer. You have to watch out for pH and salt burn and stuff like that if you don't want the plantings to die. If it just needs to look good and the smell or animals be explained, no problem.

Hannibal Lecter's enemies went the pig route.
Pig poop...yuck.

Use a fridge. You'd need a tank truck of lliquid nitrogen to freeze a whole human.

It's not about fitting. Tank truck is an exaggeration, but you'll need several times the bodyweight in nitrogen to freeze the body. It's not some kind of magic liquid that will freeze a person solid if you splash a cup of it in their face, as displayed on TV.
And it's not quite risk-free either. Nitrogen isn't toxic but it will displace oxygen. So if the killer doesn't plan on suffocating all inhabitants of a medium-sized building in the process, he'll need to deal with that.

Yeah, it's not about fitting the pieces in a tank, it's about how much it takes to freeze the corpse all the way through so it will break down completely. If it was already frozen solid in a conventional freezer I'm sure it would help, though by how much I'm not sure.

A couple big bags of lime would probably be easier to get a hold of.

Going by energy, to get a body down from 25°C to -75°C will take about four times the bodyweight in liquid nitrogen. That would be the case in a perfectly insulated container, with the body and nitrogen inside. If you try to do it in a bathtub, efficiency will go way down (for example, you're also freezing the tub) so there's an additional factor to multiply the required energy by. I'd guesstimate at least 3 or 4, so we're at 12-16 times the bodyweight in liquid nitrogen. Depending on the body, that may be well over a ton.
-75°C is also a lower-boundary guesstimate to how cold a body needs to be for the process (and it rounds nicely to 100° total temperature change). Likely significantly colder, or they wouldn't need to use liquid nitrogen to cool it down.

I'm with those recommending pigs... Or you can take a page from the books of MX Cartel members. It involves a deserted field and vultures. Lots of vultures.