Residents in downtown San Diego experienced a pretty unpleasant shock Wednesday when a suitcase containing the remains of a young woman was discovered near garbage cans next to the Chadwick hotel.
The black suitcase containing the young woman's body was discovered about 11 a.m. by a man who lives nearby. The man, who opted to remain anonymous, spotted the suspicious luggage as he was taking out his trash.
"I was taking out the garbage, and I went around to the back of the building and saw a black garbage can, one of them was turned over," he said. "I dropped it and looked down and saw hair, black hair coming out... because it was zipped up, but you could still see the hair."
The man immediately called the local police, who were promptly deployed to the scene. Upon arriving, the authorities opened the luggage only to find what they'd been fearing - the grisly remains of a young woman.
Unfortunately, very little information is currently available about the incident. Police, so far, have not identified the victim's identity, nor were they able to determine the cause of her death. Residents in the area, however, reported seeing the suitcase being placed on a gurney and being wheeled away.
Lt. Ray Valentin with the San Diego Police Department emphasized that the identity of the dead woman remains unknown as of publication. He did, however, state that the authorities will be doing all they can to get to the bottom of the case.
"This is a tragic scene right now, what we've got here, but we're going to do everything in our power to find who conducted or did this to this person," he said.
Police who responded to the scene were quite mum about the details regarding the victim, refusing to confirm if there were any signs of trauma on her body. An autopsy by the medical examiner is already underway.
Despite the air of mystery surrounding the grisly find, Valentin nonetheless believes that information about the incident would probably emerge soon.
"There are a lot of windows that look down into the parking lot of where the suitcase was located," he said. "Detectives will be combing those locations to see what they find."
Residents of the area have been quite shaken by the incident, including David Bloomer, who expressed his shock and fear at the nature of the probable murder.
"Scary as hell," he said. "Just goes to show when you think things are safe, they're usually not. Frightening when you consider the perimeter. It's very close to our living situation."
