The grisly Halloween day discovery of a human body in a suitcase floating in Lake Merritt now has now resulted in the victim being identified as a 23-year-old man, but there’s not much information about him, and police are asking for help in that regard.
It was just before 11 a.m. on October 31 this year when a clean-up volunteer found the remains of a human body in a suitcase that was floating in Oakland’s Lake Merritt. "We grabbed one end and we realized it was too heavy,” that volunteer Kevin Shomo told KTVU. “So we pulled it close enough to us and we said, 'Oh wow, this thing is heavy' so we unzipped it and that's what we found."
Oakland police did not knowl the identity of the victim at that time, but they do now. KRON4 reports that the person in the suitcase was 23-year-old Gabriel Gomez Raymundo, but police otherwise have little information about him, and are searching for details, as they have classified this case as a homicide.
The Oakland Police Department said in a Wednesday Facebook post that “OPD is asking for the community’s assistance with any information about Mr. Gomez Raymundo (where he lived, worked, associates, etc.), as well as any tips surrounding his death.”
The police are not saying how long Raymundo’s body had been in the water. But they are investigating whatever circumstances led to his death, and are offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call the Oakland PD Homicide Unit at (510) 238-3821, or its tip line at (510) 238-7950. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Related: Human Body Found Crammed in Suitcase Floating in Lake Merritt [SFist]
Image via Oakland Police Department