The victim has been identified as a woman, but no other details about her were being released as of this morning, police Lt. Lyn Tomioka said.
Shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, a citizen saw the suitcase floating near the Embarcadero and Folsom Street. The citizen reported it to firefighters who were returning from a rescue in the Bay, San Francisco fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.
No arrests have been made in the case, according to Tomioka.
Police contacted the U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday to ask for assistance in determining the drift patterns in the Bay around the time the suitcase was found, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Jeremy Pichette said today.
A computer program that the Coast Guard uses in search-and-rescue missions to find out where an object may have drifted "essentially did a reverse search ... trying to go back in time" to estimate where the suitcase may have drifted from, Pichette said.
He said, however, that the program was unable to provide any substantial information that would help police.
An autopsy was scheduled to be performed on the woman this morning, according to the San Francisco medical examiner's office. Police said it appears the body had only been in the water for a couple of days.
