DETROIT (AP) - The decapitated bodies of a man and a woman were pulled from the Detroit River and a nearby canal on Tuesday, about an hour before a fisherman discovered body parts just beneath the surface, along with a circular saw and a suitcase.
The bodies, which were also missing hands and feet, didn't provide any immediate clues about the deaths or potential suspects, Detroit police said. Police wouldn't comment on whether the fisherman's grisly discovery was connected, but did confirm additional body parts were found along the concrete and steel seawall.
"It was a gruesome sight - something you don't want to see on the river when you want to relax," the fisherman, Hollis Fussell, told the Associated Press from the river bank as police divers prepared to go into the river.
U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted the first body from shore about 6:45 a.m. in Fox Creek, which empties into the mile-wide Detroit River. The U.S. Coast Guard was called in to retrieve the body, and on their way to Fox Creek, guardsmen found the second mutilated body floating in the river.
About an hour later, Fussell was getting ready to set up his fishing gear along the river seawall when he looked into the partially clear and greenish water near Fox Creek. About 10 feet down, he said, he saw what looked like "three legs."
"They were submerged in the water," the 53-year-old said. "A sheet was in the water. A saw was there. A suitcase, too."
The bodies and body parts were turned over to the Wayne County medical examiner's office, whose investigators wouldn't comment on the case.
Outside of the body parts found by Fussell, police wouldn't comment on whether anything else was found in the river. They also were not sure if the body parts belonged to the bodies found floating in the water.