Mint Hill police are looking into the town's first homicide since it established a force in 2003 to investigate what is described as gruesome slayings.
Authorities say a man was killed in his home and then dismembered. Body parts were strewn about the yard.
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Police were called to the home off Albemarle Road around 6:45 p-m. When Sergeant Michael Gainey knocked on the door, a man answered. Chief Brian Barnhardt says the man quickly held out his wrists in front of him.
Then the man showed Gainey inside, where a man's torso was lying on the bedroom floor, partially covered by a blanket. Police, volunteer firefighters and SBI agents swarmed the area, and they found the man's head in a creek bed. Arms and legs were found in nearby brush.
The man who answered the door is being detained. A second man also has been detained.
Police are not releasing the victim's name until his family can be notified.