A man who was reported missing prior to the dismembered body being found in that piece of luggage on 11th Street last week may in fact be the victim, as the Chronicle is reporting. Though the SFPD has declined to confirm the Chron's story, saying that any identification must happen by the medical examiner, the Chron has it on good authority that a friend and former roommate of suspect Mark Jeffrey Andrus, 58-year-old Omar Shahwan of Vallejo, had been reported missing by family members, and police have questioned the man who was detained along with Andrus on Friday evening about Shahwan's whereabouts.
As discussed yesterday, the 59-year-old Andrus was essentially homeless the last few years, often bunking with a friend in the Tenderloin, in the public housing complex at 430 Turk Street. That friend, 55-year-old Mark Keever, has now spoken with the Chron's reporter about his questioning by police. "They came in and said, 'Do you know about this guy Omar,’ and I said, 'Yes,’” Keever said. And even though Keever still maintains that he thinks Andrus is innocent, saying he was always a nice guy, he admits that he saw Andrus in possession of Shahwan's state identification card.
Keever and Andrus knew each other from standing in line at a nearby methadone clinic. Keever says Andrus and Shahwan were close friends, and often came over to watch TV, and sometimes crash there. It's unclear how long Shahwan may have been missing. The Chron also notes that city records show that Shahwan and Andrus lived together in another SRO, the Krupa Hotel, circa 2010, and tried suing their landlord over an eviction.
Broadcast news stations ABC 7 and CBS 5 both picked up on the story, but we await confirmation from the medical examiner, who has been stymied by the remains arriving without head or hands.
The SFPD have a deadline today to charge Andrus, who's been held without bail since early Saturday.
