Woman’s Body Found In Suitcase — Body Could Have Been There For As Long As Two Years

According to NBC, the body of a 28-year-old disabled woman was found in a suitcase in her mother’s San Diego apartment. The body was wrapped in at least nine black trash bags. The woman might have died of natural causes. Her 40-pound body could have been in the suitcase for as long as two years. It was too decomposed to determine the exact cause and time of death.

New York Daily News reported that the woman’s body was discovered when deputies went to the apartment to serve an eviction notice on Bonnie MacBeth, the dead woman’s mother. That’s when the mother told the deputies about the suitcase that contained Brooke MacBeth’s body, which was wrapped in the trash bags, stuffed inside a suitcase, and sealed with duct tape.

Authorities found out that Brooke had the mental capacity of a two-year-old, had a history of infant seizures and cerebral palsy, and had always required full-time care. After Brooke died, her mother never reported the death.

When the deputies went to the apartment, Bonnie invited them in and told them about the suitcase. Deputies noticed a foul order, but they had to search for the suitcase. They found it in a cluttered bedroom under a pile of clothes and blankets. When the officers sliced opened the large, black, car-roof luggage cover, they discovered the body. A homicide team was called to the scene. A deputy medical examiner cut open a blanket that covered the body and saw ribs and other bones.

Bonnie told the deputies she had tried to hang herself the night before because she knew she was going to be evicted. A noose that was made from a sheet was seen hanging from a door hinge. Bonnie was not arrested. Instead, she was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

According to the district attorney’s office, an investigation continues, and no charges have been filed. Bonnie said she found her daughter dead in her bedroom, but she couldn’t remember if she had died six months, 18 months, or two years earlier.

“I have felt guilty since my daughter passed, and the death of my daughter has bothered me for years.”

Brooke’s younger sister, who did not live in the apartment, told officials she had not seen her sister since before Christmas in 2014. She said her sister had been diagnosed with temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Her intellectual and physical disabilities prevented her from forming words and communicating with others. That’s probably the reason no one noticed that she had been dead for so long.

[Image via Getty Images]