UPDATE: For the latest details on this story, go here.
A woman's body parts were found in suitcases and plastic bags strewn throughout a Bronx neighborhood early Tuesday by a man and his 12-year-old son walking their dog, law enforcement officials said.
Police have identified the victim as Tania Byrd, a 45-year-old woman who has been missing since the weekend. They think Byrd was dismembered at her Westchester Avenue apartment and they took her 23-year-old son into custody after he made statements implicating himself, law enforcement officials told NBC 4 New York.
"Every time you see her, she would have a smile on her face," neighbor Chastity Agosto said of Byrd. "How could a son do that to his mother?"
Law enforcement sources said Wednesday that a second man was also being questioned in connection with Byrd's death and dismemberment. They said he is a 26-year-old man with 21 prior arrests who is friendly with the son. Sources said he had the victim's cell phone on him when he was taken into custody.
No arrests have been made, but law enforcement sources said charges are expected to be filed.
Law enforcement officials tell NBC 4 New York that the man walking his dog along 158th Street in Morrisania came upon a plastic bag of what he thought were books. As he moved to open the bag, he noticed a gray Dodge Charger circling the block, so he took the bag around the corner and looked inside, finding two hands and a shoulder.
He sent his son to call police and continued walking the dog. About two blocks away on Eagle Avenue he and the dog came upon a suitcase, and the dog sat down next to it. The man opened the suitcase and found a woman's torso, wearing a bra, according to law enforcement officials.
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Responding police found a plastic bag further down Eagle Avenue that contained a leg and a foot, and then nearby on Cauldwell Avenue, they found a black suitcase with a leg and the woman's head.
Police believe the killer wrapped the woman's dismembered body parts in a shower curtain before dumping them.
Law enforcement officials tell NBC 4 New York they found an empty box in her apartment that they believe contained a power saw. The apartment also smelled of bleach and was littered with latex gloves.
Neighbors said Byrd leaves behind a younger son with Down syndrome.
