On June 13, 1973, the body of a mutilated woman was found inside an orange suitcase and several plastic items in San Diego Bay, California. The two fishermen who made the gruesome discovery first saw a leg floating in the water, after which they opened the washed-up suitcase.
The identity of the woman remained unknown until now. Investigators could only rely on a birthmark on her left thigh. Her fingertips were cut off, perhaps to prevent her from being identified by fingerprints. The murder case could therefore not be solved for fifty years.
But now the identity of the victim is known after DNA testing by a private company. It concerns Arminda Grangeia Rodrigues da Silva Ribeiro, a Portuguese who was born in 1943 and emigrated with her family to Newark, New Jersey. Police said Ribeiro was married and had two children. She worked for a trailer manufacturer in Newark and was 29 when she died. It is not clear what exactly she was doing in California.
Police are now continuing to search for a perpetrator of the murder and are asking the general public for tips about her job in Newark and possible connections to San Diego.