The body is found tucked into a suitcase along the North Carolina River, just 10 miles from where a 28-year-old pregnant woman disappeared a week ago
- The body was found in a suitcase on the Neuse River trail in Raleigh on Monday
- The case is considered homicide and the cause of death is still being investigated
- Police have not revealed the victim’s identity, but said it is possible that she is 28-year-old Brittany Samone Smith.
- Smith was last seen on February 2 in Wendell, about 10 miles from where the body was found
- Police officers asked for help to find her on Saturday, saying she was “visibly pregnant”
A body was found in a suitcase on the banks of a river in North Carolina, near where a pregnant woman was reported missing last week.
The female body was spotted by a passerby on Monday morning near the Neuse River trail in Raleigh, Wake County sheriff’s office said.
Police have not revealed the victim’s identity, but said it is possible that she is 28-year-old Brittany Samone Smith, who disappeared about 10 miles from Wendell on February 2.
Smith’s family was at the location where the suitcase was found, ABC11 reported.
A woman’s body was found in a suitcase beside a river in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday morning, close to where Brittany Samone Smith (left and right) was reported missing last week. Police did not confirm the victim’s identity, but said it is possible that she was Smith, who was described as ‘visibly pregnant’
The female corpse was spotted by a passerby on Monday morning near the Neuse River trail in Raleigh. Wake County Sheriff’s Office delegates photographed on site
The case is being treated as a homicide, according to Wake County sheriff Gerald Baker, who told reporters that it is “safe to say it was not an accident”.
An autopsy is underway to confirm the woman’s identity and cause of death.
‘We are preparing to confirm [the woman’s identity], ‘Baker told reporters at the scene on Monday.
– I can’t sit here and say this is what’s there now. We have not reached that point. We have information to believe. ‘
“It is not every day, it is not every morning, that you find what could be a person’s body in a suitcase, in a river,” he added.
Police posted an alert asking the public for help to locate Smith (photo) on Saturday, four days after she was last seen in Wendell
An aerial view shows detectives at the location where the woman’s body was found on Monday. ABC11 reported that the Smith family was also on site
Police posted an alert asking the public to help locate Smith on Saturday, four days after she was last seen in Wendell.
WRAL reported that neighbors said Smith lived in a tent with her boyfriend on block 200 of Fox Run Drive. WXII 12 News also published photos of the tent.
Smith was described as being 4’11 “tall, about 115 pounds and ‘visibly pregnant’.
Baker hinted that investigators suspect that Smith may be the victim in the suitcase on Monday.
‘If this is, in fact, this young woman we have been looking for all weekend, someone is responsible for this,’ he said.
The sheriff also said that there is a “person of interest” with whom the detectives want to speak.
‘We will work hard. Let’s find out who was responsible. I can tell you that. Because these things just don’t happen. Someone is responsible. ‘
A house on the block where Smith was last seen is shown with electrical tape around it in images from WXII 12 News
WRAL reported that neighbors said Smith lived in a tent with her boyfriend on block 200 of Fox Run Drive. WXII 12 News also published pictures of the tent (above)