Woman found dead in tote on Missouri street, cops say. ‘We don’t know who she is’

An unidentified woman was found dead in a tote bin in the middle of a Missouri street, authorities say.

“We don’t know who she is,” St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Mitch McCoy said during a Sept. 15 news briefing streamed by KSDK.

St. Louis officers were dispatched to Harney Avenue on the north side of the city Sunday, Sept. 14, after someone believed they found human remains, McCoy said.

The victim’s body was discovered in a bag inside a tote bin, KTVI reported.

“I’ve been seeing that tote all morning; it never dawned on me that there was a body in it,” Freida Parks, who lives near the crime scene, told KSDK.

McCoy said an autopsy was being conducted Sept. 15 to determine the identity and cause of death for the victim. Then, investigators will work on piecing together a timeline to figure out what led to her death and how she ended up in the tote.

He called the incident “certainly different.”

“It is heartbreaking that an individual could be treated like that and left,” McCoy said. “We have some of the best detectives in this state. I think we have some of the best detectives in the country, but I think that they will get down to figuring out how this person died and then who left her in the street and then determine what crimes may have been committed.”

Anyone with information was asked to contact the St. Louis police homicide division at 314-444-5371 or contact CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.

This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 9:54 AM with the headline "Woman found dead in tote on Missouri street, cops say. ‘We don’t know who she is’."