Man tried to throw suitcase in dumpster — with his roommate’s body inside, TN cops say
A man is facing charges after his roommate’s body was found in a suitcase in Tennessee, officials told news outlets.
Officers responded to a call at Pine Street and Eastmoreland Avenue in Memphis on Dec. 12 and found a body stuffed inside a suitcase, according to the Memphis Police Department. Police said they determined that the victim — later identified as 63-year-old Bruce Jeffries — “died from blunt force trauma to the head,” WREG reported.
Now, police said Jeffries’ roommate, 30-year-old Julian Summers, has been charged with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse in the case, local outlet FOX13Memphis reported based on an affidavit on Wednesday, Dec. 29.
Officers found the body in a suitcase in an alley behind the parking lot of a bank, WMC reported based on the affidavit. A witness had told police that he saw a man dragging the same suitcase through the alley. The man then tried to throw it into a dumpster, but the suitcase seemed to be too heavy, according to the witness.
When the man saw that someone was watching him, he dropped the suitcase and ran through the alley, the witness told police, according to WREG.
Investigators then followed a blood trail left by the suitcase to an apartment complex on South Cleveland Street and searched the unit where the trail stopped, the affidavit said, according to FOX13Memphis.
There, investigators said they found blood and signs of a struggle, WMC reported based on the affidavit. They also said they found a smaller suitcase similar to the one found with the body inside and papers belonging to Summers.
Video from the complex also showed Summers trying to throw the suitcase into a dumpster there, WMC reported.
The affidavit said Summers and Jeffries had been roommates for two years, WREG reported.
No other information has been released as of Dec. 29. McClatchy News reached out to the Memphis Police Department for more information but had not received a response.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Man tried to throw suitcase in dumpster — with his roommate’s body inside, TN cops say."
