Body Parts Found in Los Angeles Area Water Treatment Plants

Body parts believed to be from the same woman have been found at two water treatment plants in the Los Angeles area, sheriff's homicide detectives said Monday.

The upper torso with the head mangled was found at a sewage treatment plant on Monday in the unincorporated community of Bassett, when workers came to check a plug in the line, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Rosson said at a news conference broadcast on several local television stations.

Two days earlier, other body parts were found at a facility in the suburb of Carson, about 25 miles away, authorities said in a statement.

"That human torso appears to be related to the other body parts that were found Saturday in Carson," Rosson said. The body, which detectives said might be that of a Hispanic woman, would have entered the system either through a manhole cover or a sewer line, he said. The body may have entered in one piece and been torn apart as it moved through the system, he said.

A cause of death had not yet been determined by late Monday, but a sheriff's department news release said that the case was being investigated as a homicide.