Man’s body found in suitcase at Lake Merritt, residents speak out

OAKLAND, California. – Human remains stuffed in a suitcase were found in Lake Merritt Tuesday morning, the police said. Oakland Fire Department confirmed with KTVU.

Firefighters responded to the scene around 11 a.m. Tuesday after volunteers cleaning the lake found the suitcase and called 911.

The man’s body was found in a suitcase on the shore of Lake Merritt, near Lakeshore and Hanover avenues.

The gruesome Halloween discovery was a disturbing sight at the lake, considered Oakland’s crown jewel and a popular wildlife refuge for joggers and nature lovers.

“I wasn’t shocked, but I was surprised that there was a body in there,” said Kevin Shomo, one of the volunteers on the Lake Merritt Institute crew that found the suitcase .

Shomo helps clean the lake every Tuesday.

“We kind of brought it closer to us using these net posts,” Shomo said.

They tried to remove it.

“We grabbed one end and realized it was too heavy. So we pulled it pretty close to us and we said, ‘Oh wow, this thing is heavy,’ so we opened it and it “That’s what we found,” Shomo said.

Shomo said the man appeared to be in his 30s and was crammed into the suitcase “kind of like in a fetal position.”

Oakland police homicide investigators and Alameda County coroner’s investigators responded to the scene.

Oakland Police Capt. Alan Yu said it was not yet known when and where the suitcase first entered the water and whether the victim matched any missing persons reports.

“Part of the investigation is to determine where the body could have floated from. It could be any part of the lake, and we are investigating all of these possible outcomes,” Yu said.

A growing crowd gathered to watch the spectacle, reacting with shock and horror at the discovery of Halloween.

Angela Massella says she noticed part of the suitcase sticking out of the water around 8 a.m.

“I saw something, a little piece like that, but not the whole suitcase, just a little piece like that,” she said.

“It’s really scary for me, for a body to be in the neighborhood here, it’s really scary,” she said.

Gerlen Polk said she was “just going for my walk like I usually do and then watching TV and (my husband) says there’s a body in the lake – a body in the lake? What’s -what is happening ?”

She added: “Sad. Just sad.”

Oakland police are asking anyone with surveillance video or information about suspicious activity regarding the body to call them.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. Email Henry at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan