Police in California said they discovered the decomposing body of a woman Sunday night in a cardboard box kept in the back of a stabbing suspect’s car.
The 29-year-old woman, who was not identified, was wrapped with tape and had sustained head trauma, The Fresno Bee reported.
The body was found as police in Dinuba served a search warrant on stabbing suspect Jose Anthony Rodriguez’s Lincoln Navigator, according to the newspaper.
Rodriguez is accused of stabbing a man multiple times in the upper arm during a confrontation early Sunday at a home in the 1300 block of East Olive Way, YourCentralValley.com reported. The stabbing was at least the third report to police in which witnesses mentioned seeing a black Lincoln Navigator at the scene.
Officers were called to a report of shots fired on Saturday night. Witnesses told police that the shots came from a Lincoln, although they declined to cooperate further with authorities, KMPH reported. Officers were also called to a report of a fight later Saturday. Witnesses spotted the Lincoln there as well, according to KMPH.
Police were tipped off to the possibility that Rodriguez might have a body in the back of his Lincoln after an officer arrested him Sunday morning on charges related to the reported stabbing on East Olive Way, The Fresno Bee reported.
Dinuba police Lt. Abel Iriarte told YourCentralValley.com that Rodriguez has not been charged in relation to the body because authorities believe that the woman likely died in Reno. He added that authorities uncovered a potential burial site for the body after receiving tips about a spot in Dinuba.
Reno police are working with Dinuba police to investigate the case.
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