It's an intentional seperation in the body of the spacecraft. A similar method of suspending the craft on the parachutes existed on the Gemini capsules.
Dragon's parachutes lie in a compartment close to the bottom (heat shield side) of the spacecraft. To ensure that the spacecraft remains in the correct orientation during splashdown, the parachutes must be connected to the spacecraft via this method to ensure that it does not descend to the ocean upside-down.
The Gemini chutes were located in the nose, but were connected to the spacecraft in a way that would keep the astronauts horizontal during descent. This was a call-back to the original Gemini recovery method, which was to use a parawing and glide to a runway.