An evening walk through a Cleveland park ended in horror when a local man made a discovery that would launch a homicide investigation.
Per the New York Post, the bodies of two young girls were found stuffed inside separate suitcases on Monday near Saranac Playground, according to Cleveland police.
The grim discovery was made after a dog-walker noticed something unusual partially buried in the dirt.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said Tuesday that investigators are still working to identify the victims, who were described only as “juvenile black females.”
“At this time, we don’t know how long the juveniles had been at this location. It was some time,” Todd said.
She estimated that one of the girls was between 8-and-a-half and 13 years old, while the other appeared to be between 10 and a half and 14.
Authorities said there are currently no reports of missing children in the area that match the victims’ descriptions. It also remains unclear whether the girls were related.
Police added there is “no indication of an ongoing threat to public safety.”
The investigation began around 6 p.m. when Phillip Donaldson was walking his dog near a mound of dirt. He said his pet’s behavior caught his attention.
“It was like a pile of dirt, and she stopped to sniff, and I usually just walk and she catch up with me, and she was taking too long,” he said.
Donaldson went back to see what had drawn the dog’s focus.
“So I went back and looked, and it was a suitcase that was half-buried, and I pulled it up and looked in it, and it was a head. Somebody’s head in it,” he said.
He immediately contacted police.
Officers responded and later confirmed that two bodies had been recovered from the scene.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death as the investigation continues.
