Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Pamela Prpich, 32, Mich - Remains found in Suitcase
#1
Another missing woman found dismembered. So sad, her brother opened a suitcase to find her torso inside. I hope this one gets solved quickly.


Woman's Remains Found in Suitcase in Gibraltar Creek
Updated: Friday, 19 Aug 2011, 7:33 PM EDT

By myFOXDetroit.com Staff

GIBRALTAR, Mich. (WJBK) - The story began with a report of a missing woman. Thursday afternoon, her brother made a grim discovery -- the torso of a woman stuffed into a suitcase.

Michael Prpich, the brother of that missing Gibraltar woman now presumed dead, stood over the creek Friday where he found the suitcase.

"We just were dreading this day because when we didn't hear from her for that long, you can't help but think the worst, and it ends up being worse than I could even imagine," he said.

The family of 32-year-old Pamela Prpich had not heard from her since last Friday and reported her missing Monday.

Thursday afternoon, her brother was looking for traces of his sister along the banks of the creek near her condominium complex. He saw a canoeist and asked him to help look for anything unusual.

"The guy in the canoe pointed to a suitcase," Prpich said. "Didn't think anything of it, just thought it was some trash in the creek, but then he said there was some flip flops and whatnot … just other items," Prpich said.

His mother identified the items as belonging to his sister and he returned to get the suitcase.

"Grabbed it out of the creek, dragged it to shore and just opened it," Prpich told FOX 2's Bill Gallagher. "You always hear about it, but you never think it's going to happen to you."

The discovery of the remains chills neighbors.

"Very, very sad situation to see somebody mutilated like this," said Harold Popp. "I'm hoping that they get to the bottom of it quickly."

Police have interviewed a former boyfriend of Pamela Prpich, who lives at the complex.

"We spoke to some people of interest," said Gibraltar Police Chief Ray Canterbury. "They were at our station last night, but they're no longer there."

A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter along with tracking dogs and a dive team aided in the quest for more evidence.

"We're still searching for some more of the remains," Canterbury said.

"I just hope that nothing like this ever happens to anyone else out there," said Prpich.

Police are awaiting the results of DNA testing before making a positive identification, but the father of the missing woman is convinced the remains are those of his daughter.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/loc...0110819-mr
Reply
#2
[Image: bilde?Site=C3&Date=20110819&Category=MET...ofile=1409]

"We found things that led us to believe it's her," said Gibraltar Police Chief Ray Canterbury.

Friday afternoon, the Downriver Underwater Search and Recovery team and a K-9 team searched a creek behind the Bella Vista Condominiums on West Jefferson near Gibraltar Road. The ground search covered a mile around the area where the suitcase was found, while Canterbury said he searched the area for two hours aboard a Border Patrol helicopter.
Police questioned three people and had one person of interest, who Canterbury described as an acquaintance. No one is in police custody.

Pamela Prpich's family last heard from her Aug. 12 and became concerned after realizing she didn't have her cell phone or any money with her.

Snipped from:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110819/...n-suitcase
Reply
#3
I hope LE is able to locate and speak with the canoeist. Something about finding the remains just doesn't sit right. If you were canoeing and a random guy asked you if you'd seen anything suspicious because his sister was missing, wouldn't you do more than point at a suitcase and some personal items and paddle on your merry way?

I am questioning whether this canoeist really exists.

Reply
#4
i have to assume, although i have not read it anywhere, that canoe guy was IDed and interviewed by police.

this made me realize how many cases i have followed where people used suitcases as a means of body disposal. quite a few. it's very convenient, because they retain much of the evidence in a neat package.

















































Reply
#5
I think it's weird that the killer removed her tattoos. Did he think that would prevent LE from identifying the body? Definitely not a cunning POS if he didn't realize that LE would be running forensics tests to positively ID the victim, with or without the tats. Unless perhaps he removed them because they had some meaning to him.

I'm assuming it was a man because of the weight of the body, but I guess it could be a woman or more than one person too. Pamela's mom said the she last saw Pamela talking on the phone with an old school friend (male) that Pamela hadn't seen in years. I believe the friend was in town. I'm wondering if he is the POI.
Reply
#6
Family identifies headless remains found in suitcase

Pam’s mother, Cheryl Prpich, said she went to bed Aug. 12 while her daughter was in the living room talking with an old Wayne Memorial High School friend. She’d run into the man at a local technical college a few months ago, her mother said.

Pam Prpich had been taking electrical engineering classes there since she took a buyout from her job on the assembly line at Ford’s Wayne plant a couple years ago, Cheryl Prpich said.

“He just came to visit, and I had heard them talking and I went to sleep,” Cheryl Prpich said. “When I got up, she was gone.”


snipped from:
http://www.freep.com/article/20110819/NE...d-suitcase

Reply
#7
this was my friend, and i honestly believe this was a death gone wrong, I believe her bro walked and walked looking for her. I think the people she was hanging out did this to her.
Reply
#8
it's not weird to remove someones tats. that just makes me think they didn't want her found. If you are in a gang(not saying she was) but they remove that person's tats
Reply
#9
welcome to Mock Faithmommy...and thanks for posting. Smiley_emoticons_smile
is there anything more you'd like to add to this sad story?
"death gone wrong" what does that mean?

please read this:


http://mockforums.net/thread-6313.html

















































Reply
#10
Death gone wrong? explain!

edit: Sorry LC. We cross posted, I just noticed it.
Reply
#11
i believe Pamela's upper torso and head have not been found yet.
just gruesome. :(

















































Reply
#12
(08-21-2011, 06:36 PM)Faithmommy Wrote: it's not weird to remove someones tats. that just makes me think they didn't want her found. If you are in a gang(not saying she was) but they remove that person's tats

Welcome Faithmommy.

I am very sorry for your loss and appreciate your insight.

I guess it's relative. Dismembering someone in and of itself is weird to me; removing the tats just seems pointless. I don't see how removing the tats has anything to do with hindering a body from being found, though I can see how specific tats might tie the victim to the killer(s) once the body is found. I understand how that might be a motive to remove them (or a message from the killers).

I hope you share more insight. Again,extremely sorry you lost your friend.
Reply
#13
removing tats is generally an attempt at concealing ID of victim. which is also why head and upper torso (fingerprints) are still missing.

















































Reply
#14
(08-21-2011, 07:03 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: removing tats is generally an attempt at concealing ID of victim. which is also why head and upper torso (fingerprints) are still missing.

Thanks LC. I guess with advances in forensic technology, the effectiveness of concealing identity by removing unique external identifiers is much less effective, especially for someone who has been reported missing where the family will have submitted DNA for comparison. I'm not sure what to make of the tattoo removal in this case yet.

It is gruesome and disturbing that her head and upper torso have not been located. I wish we knew whether the suitcase containing her body was Pamela's and if there are other suitcases/containers missing from her condo. I doubt it though. If the murder, dismemberment, or packaging had occurred in her condo, there would be signs I guess.



Reply
#15
GIBRALTAR — The rest of the remains of a missing woman still had not been found as of Tuesday afternoon.

Police are continuing the search, which began after the torso of the missing woman was found stuffed in a blue suitcase Thursday along the Frank and Poet Drain.

The suitcase was found in tall grass along the shoreline behind Bella Vista condominiums near Gibraltar Road and West Jefferson Avenue.

Police Chief Raymond Canterbury said it is believed the body could be that of Pamela Prpich, 32, who went missing from Bella Vista on Aug. 12. He said he cannot confirm the identity until DNA results are available.

Prpich’s family told media outlets that they don’t need DNA testing to know it is her body.

Canterbury said police believe she lived at the condominium complex in the 29000 block of West Jefferson Avenue.

Police developed a list of suspects and spoke to a person of interest, but didn’t have anyone in custody as of Tuesday morning.

















































Reply
#16
An arrest was made Wednesday afternoon in the case of a woman’s body found stuffed in a suitcase last week, according to police.

They have not released the name of the person arrested, but said that it is not a relative or boyfriend.

The police said they plan to release more information later today.

link:
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/20...de=default
Reply
#17
Police found remains in the suspect's home, and he later confessed to the murder.

















































Reply
#18
How awful! Glad that sick fuck is off the streets.
Reply
#19
(08-25-2011, 09:58 AM)JsMom Wrote: How awful! Glad that sick fuck is off the streets.

Me too, this guy needs to be in a cage. Why would he have still have remains in his home a week later? That statement reminded me of Jeffrey Dahmer.

Reply
#20
Monroe Press

Police said additional remains of a victim whose partial body was found in a suitcase were discovered in a container in the suspect's Gibraltar apartment.
Gibraltar police Chief Ray Canterbury said the suspect, 52, admitted to dismembering the victim, Pam Prpich, 32, but did not confess to killing her. In fact, the chief said he can't even call the case a murder at this time.
"We can't say if it's a homicide," Chief Canterbury said. "We're hoping the medical examiner will determine a cause of death."no, she dismembered herself.
A store's surveillance camera captured the image of the suspect doing something suspicious that was connected to the Prpich case. The chief would not elaborate.
The victim and the suspect knew each other, the chief said, but he added there was no confirmation the two were romantically involved.
The victim's remains that were found in the suitcase near a Gibraltar apartment complex included the lower portion of the victim. The flesh had been removed from the thigh area Smiley_emoticons_skeptisch , the chief said, but he could not determine why.
There were no signs of cannibalism, and the suspect's apartment was tidy and well-kept. well that's comforting.
"We're a small town," Chief Canterbury said. "This horrific case didn't happen just to the family. This is something that happened to all of us. These things don't happen in Gibraltar."

















































Reply