OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
1:07 PM PT – Thursday, August 3, 2023
A 78-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly murdering his wife in Delray Beach, Florida.
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On Thursday, police said 78-year-old William Lowe was taken into custody on charges of first-degree murder and improper dismemberment of a dead body on Wednesday.
Officers first received a call about a suitcase floating in the Intercoastal Waterway on July 21st and located two more soon after.
Authorities found a tote bag and a purse floating in the waterway the next day, which were both shut with twine and wrapped with a belt. According to the probable cause affidavit, the tote bag contained a “female human head’ with a “single gunshot wound behind the woman’s ear with an exit wound behind the opposite ear.”
During the two week investigation, officers released constructed images of the victim. Officials estimated was between 35 and 55 years old, White or Hispanic, and 5 foot 4 inches tall with brown hair and tattooed eyebrows.
During a press conference on Thursday, Mike Liberta, the investigations lead detective, said the community provided vital information.
“Over the next several days detectives conducted neighborhood canvases and developed multiple witnesses that were able to display information in reference to a vehicle and subject that was seen in the area multiple times prior to the suitcases being located.”
Police were able to obtain a vehicle tag, which led them to Lowe and the victims apartment. “There was blood splatter in the apartment,” Liberta said. It also allowed them to identify the victim through dental records, as 80-year-old Aydil Barbosa Fontes.
“Additional evidence was obtained from this residence which led officers to a storage unit where they located a chainsaw that they believe was used in this crime,” Liberta stated.
A medical examiner concluded Fontes’ cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the head. The couple had been married for about 15 years. Authorities said Lowe’s motive remains unclear.
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