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A 47-year-old California man is charged with allegedly torturing and murdering a 23-year-old man along with another unidentified suspect before stuffing his body into a suitcase and throwing it in the San Francisco Bay, prosecutors say.
The bizarre torture and slaying are allegedly captured on videotape, authorities say.
On Feb. 18, the body of23-year-old George Randall Saldivar was found in a suitcase floatingnear the east side of Pier 39 along the famed Embarcadero, theSan Francisco Chroniclereports.
Four days later, Gerald Rowe of San Francisco was charged with murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait and torture, according to a motion the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office filed Monday in San Francisco Superior Court, theChroniclereports.
It is unclear whether Rowe has entered a plea of guilt or innocence or whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
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The alleged crime came to light when the medical examiner performed an autopsy and notified police that Saldivar had been murdered, theLos Angeles Timesreports.
The ensuing investigation led San Francisco Police Department detectives to an apartment in an SRO hotel registered to Rowe, the motion states, theTimesreports.
Inside the apartment, detectives found shocking video of the alleged slaying showing Rowe, Salvidar and a third unidentified suspect first taking part in “consensual sexual activity,” according to the motion.
When Saldivar falls, the two begin slapping him, the motion states.
After Saldivar is dead, the co-conspirator gets “a suitcase from the closet and both place victim inside the suitcaseand eventually seal the suitcase in plastic,” the motion states, local outlet SFist reports.
Rowe then “eats junk food and plays his guitar over the suitcase,” the motion says.
The suitcase remains inside the apartment for a day while Rowe and the other suspect “go about their business,” the motion says, SFist reports.
Investigators are searching for a motive for the disturbing slaying.
source: people.com
