WALLER COUNTY, Texas – Investigators with the Waller County Sheriff's Office spent several hours Wednesday night looking for evidence under a bridge near the Brazos River and Highway 290.
A few fishermen had been in the area earlier on Wednesday and they discovered a black garbage bag dumped about 50 feet from the water's edge. The top of the bag was tied but the bottom had busted open and they were able see inside, they saw what looked like a human torso and called the police.
"What appears right now is that the arms, legs and head are missing," said Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith. "I'm hoping we can get some DNA samples."
Smith told KPRC 2 that his investigators had not been able to tell if the torso was male or female. They believe it had been in the area for two to three days.
The body was taken to the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office and an autopsy was performed Thursday. The autopsy confirmed the corpse was human.
Smith said he is hoping the torso will have some distinctive marks, like a tattoo, that will make it easier to identify. Without a head or hands for fingerprints, it could be difficult to identify this person.
Detectives are combing the area looking for more evidence, more black bags and possibly more body parts.
"There are numerous tire tracks down here. We are marking each one of them and taking pictures of each of them," Smith said.
This is an area of town that sees a lot of traffic, the road is a turnaround, access road under 290 near the Washington County line. The sheriff said whoever put the body here wanted it to be found and he wonders if someone is trying to send a message.
"Is it drug cartel or gang related? These types of things are certainly a consideration because of the severity of doing that to a body," Smith said.
The Waller County Sheriff's Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call 979-826-8266.