Police in Gwinnett County, Ga., investigating human remains found in a suitcase say they're following up on a tip about a missing Chattanooga woman, but local authorities said they hadn't been called as of Thursday afternoon.
"We haven't been contacted in any way, shape, form or fashion," said Investigator Jeff Dean, who is in charge of missing persons cases for the Chattanooga Police Department.
He also said he has no open files from 2016 for a missing woman in the age range released by the Gwinnett County Police Department. And the subject of a pending 2015 missing persons report recently was seen alive, Dean said.
A construction worker found the large suitcase containing a woman's body in July along Interstate 985, The Associated Press reported. She had probably been dead for about six months, and the remains didn't match any local missing persons reports, local authorities said.
Gwinnett County police released a sketch of the woman Wednesday, and Ted Bailey, an investigator with the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's Office, told the AP he'd been contacted by a relative of a missing Chattanooga woman. He also heard about a woman missing from Virginia.
Speaking to local media Thursday at the Police Services Center, Dean said families of missing persons grasp desperately for clues to their loved ones' locations and sometimes go into "panic mode" when a body turns up.
He said the clearance rate for missing persons cases is very high.
"Every case from 2016 that fits that age parameter is cleared," Dean said.
He has a pending case on a Chattanooga teen who was reported missing in September 2015, but said she recently was spotted alive in a neighboring town. And the department has just a handful of unsolved missing person cases, he said.
The Gwinnett police released new information Tuesday about the woman based on a forensic examination. She was white, probably Asian Indian or Eastern Indian, 5 feet, 1 inch to 5 feet, 5 inches tall and aged 20 to 29., with signs of healed injuries on the left side of her ribs.
Her body, found in a full-sized Quest suitcase, was dressed in a Miley Cyrus hoodie, black Victoria's Secret pants with "LOVE PINK" on the leg, and pink women's Nike Air Max Cage shoes, size 7.
"We feel confident that a family somewhere is missing this young woman," Gwinnett County police said in a statement. "By identifying her, we can try to bring closure to a family while trying to solve this crime."