DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Police in Delray Beach on Saturday were continuing to investigate after three suitcases with a woman's remains were found floating in the water Friday.
Late Saturday, spokesman Ted White said the remains were a woman who is white or Hispanic, middle aged with brown hair and approximately 5-foot-4. She may have had tattooed eyebrows and was wearing a floral tank top with a black undershirt and black mid-thigh shorts, White said.
On Sunday, police posted on Facebook they are "asking for the public's help with information related to a homicide. No new information was given.
At 4:03 p.m., police said they received a 911 call of a suspicious item in the water along the Intracoastal Waterway near the 1000 block of Palm Trail in Delray Beach. The police department issued a news release at 11 p.m. Friday.
When officers arrived, they said they found a suitcase with human remains inside.
A short time later, two other suitcases were found also containing human remains at nearby locations along the Intracoastal at Southeast Seventh Avenue and Casuarina Road.
The George Bush Boulevard Bridge was blocked off over the Intracoastal.
"My first instinct was it's an endangered sea turtle or something like that was floating by," Marine dockhand Keenan Johnson told WPTV's Briana Nespral. "I was in shock really for all this to happen."
"I’ve been working here for quite a while and nothing like this has ever happened around here."
Crime Scene investigators were gathering evidence and the medical examiner were on the scene. Also on hand were Florida Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Coast Guard personnel and a Boca Raton police boat.
The victim's remains were taken to the medical examiner's office.
"I'm definitely not going to sleep well tonight just knowing this is going on in my backyard but it's a crazy sad world we live in today," Johnson said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mike Liberta at 561-243-7874.