Human remains discovered inside luggage found on property outside of San Antonio

Local sheriffs are investigating after they discovered human remains inside luggage on a property in a rural area outside San Antonio.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office received a call Thursday morning for a suspicious package at the property. People feeding animals while the property's owners were out of town had noticed the luggage in the middle of the property, Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a news conference.

The sheriff's office began investigating and made the grisly discovery, according to Salazar.

"There wasn't really a whole lot of effort to hide the body, other than it was inside of a suitcase," the sheriff said at the news conference.

According to the sheriff, the identity and gender of the person whose remains were found is unclear. It's also unclear how long the remains were at that location.

"While the first inclination, of course, is to assume that it's a homicide scene, at this point, all we know is that we've got partial human remains out here and we won't be able to determine cause of death, manner of death, or the identity of the victim for some time," Salazar said.

He said the medical examiner and fire marshal would help process the scene. Salazar said the fire marshal would assist in assessing "some areas of interest," where there appeared to be efforts to burn. The sheriff noted that the burning may not be related to the discovered body, but that the fire marshal would investigate if there was any connection.

"We're getting a search warrant to finish processing the scene and at that point we may know a little bit more. But at this point, it's just too early to tell if the person was killed here, or if they were brought here in that piece of luggage and then dumped here," the sheriff added.

According to the sheriff, the property owners are cooperating with the investigation.

Bexar County is located in southern Texas. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of just over 2 million people.