• Dismembered mom's torso found in floating suitcase in Lake Ontario

    Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The Canadian Press via AP, file

    A police dog searches the banks of the Credit River in Mississauga, Ont., after police discovered a female severed head on Aug. 16. A post−mortem examination has now identified the remains as those of Guang Hua Liu, a 41-year-old former spa owner.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    TORONTO -- Human remains found in a suitcase floating in Lake Ontario near Toronto this week belonged to a single mother who went missing early last month and whose body parts had been scattered throughout the city, police confirmed Thursday.

    Toronto police said a post−mortem examination identified the remains as those of Guang Hua Liu, a 41-year-old former spa owner and mother of three.

    The Toronto Sun reported that the suitcase was discovered floating about 1.6 miles offshore by boaters on Wednesday.

    Local resident Blaine Reardon told the Toronto Star he saw two boaters towing the luggage ashore. The newspaper described it as a "large, black, wheeled suitcase." Local media said it contained a human torso.

    Liu was reported missing in early August. Hikers saw her foot floating in a river just west of Toronto a few days later. Police then found her head and hands elsewhere.

    A subsequent search unearthed more of Guang's body parts in the suburb of Scarborough, in the city's east end.

    Estranged boyfriend held
    Speaking to the Toronto Sun, Peel Regional Police Constable Fiona Thivierge said: "We are hoping that torso will lead us to understand how she came to die."

    Chunqi Jiang, a construction worker and recently estranged boyfriend of the victim, was arrested last week and charged with second-degree murder.

    The grisly details of the case have drawn comparisons to the death earlier this year of Jun Lin. The Chinese student's severed hands and feet were mailed to the offices of political parties in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver, while other body parts were found in Montreal.

    Luka Magnotta, a small-time Canadian porn actor, has been charged with Lin's murder and has pleaded not guilty.

    After an international manhunt, authorities apprehended Canadian porn actor Luka Magnotta, who is alleged to have murdered, dismembered, and cannibalized a man thought to be his boyfriend. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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