Volunteers cleaning a California lake on Halloween found the body of a murdered man stuffed in a discarded suitcase.
Volunteer Kevin Shomo told KTVU they used small nets to pull the suitcase they saw on the edge of Oakland’s Lake Merritt around 11 a.m. during a routine cleanup Tuesday.
“We grabbed one end and realized it was too heavy. So we pulled it close enough to us and said, ‘Oh, wow, this thing is heavy,’” she recalled.
“So we opened it… and that’s what we found,” he said of the gruesome discovery of a man stuffed inside “like in a fetal position.”
“I was surprised there was a body there,” Shomo said of the unidentified victim, who appeared to be in his 30s.
Oakland Police Capt. Alan Yu confirmed the discovery and said it was unclear when the suitcase was dumped.
The suitcase was found on the shore of the lake Tuesday morning.KPIX The body appeared to be that of a man in his 30s, a witness said.KPIX
“Part of the investigation is trying to determine where the body might have floated from,” Yu told KTVU. “It could be any part of the lake and we’re looking at all those possible outcomes.”
Police also confirmed to CBS News that it was being investigated as a homicide and that the victim’s identity was being withheld pending family notification. It was initially unclear whether the man killed matched someone reported missing, according to reports.
Local residents were alarmed by the discovery in a location considered a local oasis with a popular trail for runners.
“It’s really scary to me, for a body to be around the neighborhood here, it’s really scary,” witness Angela Massella told KTVU.
Police are working to notify the victim’s family before releasing his name to the public.KPIX
Local resident Gerlen Polk was also concerned about the crime scene, which her husband told her about after seeing it on the news just as she arrived for her usual walk.
“A body in the lake?” she said. “What the hell.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn