Husband arrested after wife’s body found in three suitcases in South Florida

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A man in Florida has been arrested after the remains of his wife were found in three suitcases in the Intracostal Waterway last month.

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Delray Beach Police said that the remains found on July 21 were that of “a white or Hispanic middle-aged woman with brown hair and approximately 5′4″ tall, ABC News reported. They had been alerted to the suitcase by a 911 call of a suspicious item in the water, WTVJ reported.

They said one of the suitcases had the name “Latam, MIA, Barbosa” affixed to it, ABC News reported. The sticker was for LATAM Airlines and the passenger’s name was Barbosa, according to WTVJ.

Officers said the remains had been hanging out of the suitcase when they found it and that the luggage had been weighed down with landscaping rocks.

Two other suitcases also containing remains were found at other locations on the Intracostal Waterway.

A tote bag was also found with its handles tied shut with twine and wrapped with a man’s belt. It contained a woman’s head with a gunshot wound, WTVJ reported.

Several witnesses saw a man in the area on July 20. One said they saw him looking at a floating suitcase. Another said he “appeared nervous” while another said he entered the waterway using a dock ladder and appeared to have pushed something into the water. A dock ladder was found near one of the suitcases and had blood on it, WTVJ reported.

Police executed a search warrant for the home of William Lowe, 78, of Delray Beach and found blood spatter in the home including in the living room, dining room and main bathroom, according to court documents. They also found a gun.

When they searched Lowe’s storage unit, police said they found a chainsaw that had blood and other evidence on it, ABC News reported.

Lowe allegedly said during an interview with the authorities that his wife, Aydil Barbosa Fontes, 80, had been in Brazil for about 3 weeks, but didn’t know how she got to the airport, what airline she flew on and when she last spoke to her.

He was shown photos of two of the suitcases but said he had not seen them before and didn’t know why one had her name on it.

The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that the remains belonged to Fontes through dental records and listed the manner of death as homicide with the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.

Lowe was arrested, charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a dead body, WTVJ reported.