Remains in Drain Pipe Raise Fears About Michigan Serial Killer

Dec. 22, 2012— -- Cops in Michigan have made a gruesome discovery: precisely-cut cubes of human flesh hidden in a drainage pipe. They bear a shocking similarity to other remains found last August in another nearby stretch of drain pipe.

Work crews discovered the remains, described by police to ABC News.com as "chunks of skin and fat and little bit of muscle tissue" cut into 4-by-4-inch cubes. They were found stuck to a grating near Warren, Mich., outside Detroit, after water had been removed from the drain pipe during repairs.

The remains appear to be "almost exact matches" in physical appearance to 10 pieces found earlier this year in Sterling Heights, Mich., according to Detective Mel Nearing.

Police have sent the new remains to a lab in Texas for DNA testing. Authorities said they want to determine if they match the body parts discovered last summer, which belonged to an unidentified obese white female.

Nearing said the remains found this week appeared to have been dumped recently, and would have further decomposed had they been discarded in August with the other parts.

Police said they believe that if the remains are from the same person, the killer likely froze the body and has been disposing of pieces slowly over time.

The precision of the cuts would also indicate the body had been frozen before dismemberment, Nearing said.

If the remains are found to belong to a second victim, police said they might have a serial killer on their hands.