UID Woman Found in Suitcase-Dumped in San Francisco Bay (ID'd)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/23607599/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
Coroner Identifies Woman Found In Suitcase
May 19, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO -- A young woman whose body was found curled up in a fetal position inside a suitcase tossed into the San Francisco Bay has been identified, authorities announced Wednesday.

However, police only identified the woman as African-American. Her name was being withheld pending notification of next to kin.

While homicide investigators know the name of their victim, they still were trying to piece together the details of the crime.

A sophisticated Coast Guard computer program, used to track the tides of the San Francisco Bay, had failed to give them a location where the suitcase was tossed into the Bay.

Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Jeremy Pichette said a program that the Coast Guard uses in search-and-rescue missions to find out where an object may have drifted "essentially did a reverse search ... trying to go back in time" to estimate where the suitcase may have been dumped into the Bay

But the program was not able to provide any substantial information that would help police, he said.

The gruesome discovery was made by a tourist walking along San Francisco’s scenic waterfront with his niece on Tuesday.

Lt. Mike Stasko, head of the San Francisco Police Department's homicide division, confirmed that the discovery was being treated as a homicide or a questionable death.

"Someone went ahead and put the body in a suitcase thinking it was going to go down to the bottom of the bay and let fish take care of it," he told KTVU. "Right now, we're going to take care of body and make sure it gets a decent burial."

Stasko said a preliminary examination of the decomposition of the body has revealed that it had been in the water only for a few days.

Police were called to the scene after Margarito Real's niece spotted the suitcase floating in the water near the Embarcadero and he alerted firefighters at a nearby station.

“There was a suitcase floating in the water; my niece saw it first,” Real told KTVU. “We looked at it for a few minutes and then started walking…We told one of the people who was working at the pier that there was a suitcase floating in the water… It just looked suspicious to me.”

Firefighters quickly responded to the scene and climbed down to the rocks to examine the suitcase.

“He (a firefighter) tried to pull it, but it was heavy,” Real said. “He opened it and I think I saw a leg. It made my skin crawl. They told me to take my niece away. It was a horrible feeling. Fortunately, my niece did not see anything.”

[Nut44x4]

ID'd Pearla Louis

Name Of Woman Found In Suitcase Released, ME's Office Declares Death A Homicide

The San Francisco Police department has released the identity of the woman found in a suitcase floating in the Bay on Tuesday, and the Medical Examiner's office has confirmed that it was, indeed, a homicide.

According SFPD spokesperson Sgt, Lyn Tomioka, the victim is a 52-year-old African-American woman named Pearla Louis. A missing person's report was filed on Louis, a San Francisco resident, on Monday. She had been identified by the authorities yesterday, but her name had not been released until today, pending notification of her family.

As you might recall, shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Margarito Real, who was walking with his niece, saw the suitcase floating near the Embarcadero and Folsom Street. Real reported it to firefighters who were returning from a rescue in the Bay, San Francisco fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.

A firefighter "opened it and I think I saw a leg" said Real.

Police contacted the U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday to ask for assistance in determining the drift patterns in the Bay around the time the suitcase was found, according to Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Jeremy Pichette

A computer program that the Coast Guard uses in search-and-rescue missions to find out where an object may have drifted "essentially did a reverse search ... trying to go back in time" to estimate where the suitcase may have drifted from, Pichette said.

He said, however, that the program was unable to provide any substantial information that would help police. As of Tuesday, police were saying that it appears the body had only been in the water for a couple of days.

The SF Medical examiners office reportedly performed her autopsy Wednesday morning, at which time they determined that the cause of death was homicide.

Tomioka could release few other details at this time, but SFPD is urging anyone with information on this case to call their anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444 or text them at TIP411 and "sfpd" in the "to" field.

http://sfappeal.com/news/2010/05/woman-found-in-suitcase-identified-mes-office-declares-her-death-a-homicide.php

[MuffyBee]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/BAN01DI34E.DTL&feed=rss.news
Body found in suitcase IDd as S.F. woman, 52
May 20, 2010

A woman whose body was found in the bay, stuffed in a suitcase, was identified today as a 52-year-old San Francisco resident who was reported missing Monday.

Pearla Ann Louis' death has been ruled a homicide, but police will not disclose how she was killed, said Lt. Lyn Tomioka, spokeswoman for the department.

Louis was reported missing Monday afternoon, police said. Investigators would not say who reported her missing or when she was last seen.

Her body was found in a black suitcase Tuesday morning that was spotted floating in the bay off the Embarcadero near Folsom Street.

Louis was living in San Francisco and had previous addresses in Oakland, public records show. She had a history of homelessness and drug addiction, police said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/22/state/n134908D11.DTL&tsp=1
Family of woman found in suitcase appeals for help
Saturday, May 22, 2010

The family of a woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase floating in the San Francisco Bay say they forgive the person or persons responsible and just want to know what happened to her.

Relatives of 52-year-old Pearla Ann Louis of San Francisco stood at the Embarcadero Saturday near where her body was found to appeal to the public for answers and hand out flyers.

Louis's body was discovered on Tuesday. A daughter had reported her missing on Monday.

Louis had four children, ages 21 through 30. Her son, 23-year-old Kareem Marshall, said the family planned to canvas the city.

Police are not releasing any details about her background or her life because they say they don't want to jeopardize the investigation.

[MuffyBee]

http://**/breaking-news/ci_15142342?nclick_check=1   
Family of woman found in suitcase appeals for help
May 22, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO—Pearla Ann Louis's children stood against the wind at the Embarcadero on Saturday, yards from where her body had been found on Tuesday, stuffed in a suitcase in the San Francisco Bay.

They wore baby blue T-shirts with their mother's smiling face in the middle, framed by the words: "We Will Always Love you, Mom" in fancy cursive. And they carried flyers, lots of them, with her case number and tip lines to call.

They planned to spend the weekend canvassing the city, looking for answers.

But they said they also wanted to let whoever was responsible for what happened to their mother to know that they forgave them, and to tell the world that Pearla Ann Louis was more than a headline.

She had four children, ages 21 through 30, and two grandchildren, they said. She had a wicked sense of humor and a generous streak a mile wide.

"This was a mother, a grandmother and a daughter," said Kareem Marshall, Louis's 23-year-old son. "She had people who loved her."

Marshall, Louis's only son, stood with his oldest sister, Ayesha Louis, 30, to talk about their mother. But police allowed them to give few details. Lieut. Lyn Tomioka, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department, said detectives did not want their investigation compromised by disclosing too much information.

So where or whether Louis worked remained secret. All Tomioka would allow is that Louis, 52 years old, lived in the heart of the city, in the Duboce-Church Street area. That, and that she had lived near the Tenderloin.

Ayesha Louis said she last talked to her mother on Sunday, May 16, and reported her missing the next day. "I called her every day," she said. "And she called me."

Marshall said his mother believed in God, as he does, and that was why he could forgive the person or persons responsible. "When you have God in your heart," he said, "you can forgive anything."

But, Marshall said, the family was still seeking the answers to what he called his mother's "tragedy."

"The rule on the streets is 'no snitching,'" Marshall said. "But if anybody has any tips, it's not snitching."

[MuffyBee]

http://sfappeal.com/news/2010/05/family-of-woman-found-dead-in-suitcase-ask-for-your-help.php
Family Of Woman Found Dead In Suitcase Asks For Your Help
May 21, 2010

[Nut44x4]

Arrest Made In Murder Of Woman Found In Suitcase
Posted: 5:02 pm PDT June 4, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Police announced Friday night that a man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Pearla Louis, the 52-year-old San Francisco woman whose body was found in a suitcase along the city's scenic waterfront on May 18.

At a Friday news conference, police announced that Lee Bell, a man who had been in an existing relationship with Louis, has been in custody on a parolee hold since May 21st because of his suspected involvement in Louis' death.

Louis was last heard from the morning of May 15 when she and her daughter exchanged their daily phone call at 6 a.m., San Francisco police Lt. Lyn Tomioka said.

Her family reported Louis missing at about 3 p.m. Monday, and shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday a suitcase was found in the water near the Embarcadero and Folsom Street with Louis inside, Tomioka said.

Louis' death was treated as a homicide, though police have not disclosed the manner in which she was killed. The San Francisco medical examiner's office reported Louis had been dead for less than two days based on the lack of decomposition.

Louis’ family was active during the investigation into her death, frequently canvassing areas of the city and handing out fliers along the Embarcadero, in the Tenderloin neighborhood and the area of Church and Duboce streets where Louis was known to spend time.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/23799174/detail.html

[Nut44x4]

Suspect in suitcase slaying held on $10M bail

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

(06-09) 17:14 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge set bail at $10 million Wednesday for a San Francisco man who allegedly strangled his girlfriend, stuffed her body into a suitcase and threw it in the bay.

Lee Otha Bell, 47, pleaded not guilty to murdering 52-year-old Pearla Ann Louis, who was reported missing by her family the day before her body was found May 18 off the Embarcadero at Folsom Street.

Superior Court Judge Donna Little set bail after Bell entered his plea.

Bell was already on probation for grand theft, and was arrested three days after Louis' body was found for allegedly violating that probation. He was booked on suspicion of murder June 4.

Douglas Rappaport, Bell's attorney, said the public pressure that Louis' family put on police to find her killer may have prompted investigators to arrest Bell simply to close the case. He said he was skeptical that police have the right person.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/09/BA3J1DSPU6.DTL&tsp=1

[Nut44x4]

http://webaccess.sftc.org/Scripts/Magic94/mgrqispi94.dll?APPNAME=IJS&PRGNAME=ROA22&ARGUMENTS=-ACUD09631006

Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco
Case Number: CUD-09-631006
Title: NASIR PATEL VS. LEE OTHA BELL et al
Cause of Action: UNLAWFUL DETAINER - RESIDENTIAL