Posted on 12/08/2003 8:41:25 AM PST by weegee
GALVESTON -- It must have seemed like deja vu Sunday to Galveston County Commissioner Eddie Janek to find police dragging another dismembered body from Galveston Bay near his island home.
Two years ago, the discovery of 71-year-old Morris Black's hacked-up torso and limbs in the same area led to a murder trial that involved one of the richest men in America and focused a national spotlight on this island resort city.
Janek was amazed at the coincidence of a headless torso being found just weeks after a jury acquitted New York millionaire Robert Durst of murder in Black's death. Later Sunday, a fisherman found a head floating in a plastic bag about two miles north of where the torso was discovered.
The torso was found in a suitcase bobbing in the water near the Interstate 45 causeway to Galveston. Black's body parts were found floating near the shore at one end of Janek's street.
The torso found about a mile away Sunday was brought ashore at the other end of Janek's short street.
"As clear as it was Sunday, I probably could have seen the suitcase from my porch," said Janek, who lives in the Channelview subdivision just east of the causeway.
Galveston County sheriff's Detective Ray Tuttoilmondo described the torso found Sunday. "It is the torso of either a white or Hispanic male, about 30 to 40 years old," he said. "He's estimated to have been between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed somewhere in the range of 220 and 250 pounds."
Tuttoilmondo said later that officials had information that the description fit that of a missing person and were working with Houston police on a possible lead.
"There are some markings on the body that we're trying to run down some leads on right now," he said.
The fisherman who retrieved the suitcase dropped the piece of luggage back into the water after opening it. He managed to tow the torso about a mile to shore, however.
Janek, who witnessed the torso's removal from the shoreline late Sunday morning, said it was wrapped in white plastic when brought ashore.
Divers looked unsuccessfully for the suitcase Sunday and likely will dive in the area again today, Tuttoilmondo said.
Anyone who might have information about the torso is asked to call the Sheriff's Department at 409-766-2322 or 1-866-248-8477.
Like everyone who heard about Sunday's torso recovery, Janek was struck by the coincidence of this torso's proximity to the spot at which Black's body parts were found.
Black's head was never recovered, but the defense and prosecution in Durst's murder trial agreed that Black died from a bullet to the head.
Durst testified that Black died accidentally as the two struggled over a pistol. He said he panicked after killing Black and then butchered the body to dispose of it.
Durst said he dumped Black's head into the bay near Janek's home along with the other body parts.
But prosecutors suggested Durst hid Black's head elsewhere to make sure it would never be available for forensic examination.
"I couldn't believe it," Janek said of the latest find. "It's all happening on Channelview Street."
Coincidence??? or related to the fact that the jury said it was legal to hack someone up and throw the parts into the bay!!!
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