Police: Dismembered body is Chicago man

OAK PARK, Ill., March 12 (UPI) -- Dismembered body parts found in four garbage bags in a suburban Chicago alley were identified Thursday as an 18-year-old Chicago man, police said.

Rafael Ramirez "was killed in another location and the body was randomly left in Oak Park," Oak Park Police Chief Ricky Tanksley said.

"Information thus far leads us to believe this is a gang or drug-related homicide," he told the Chicago Sun-Times.

A law enforcement source told the newspaper tattoos on one of Ramirez's arms were similar to those of a man reported missing in Chicago by his girlfriend Monday.

The abbreviation "RIP" is included in a tattoo, the source said.

Police would not say if Ramirez was the missing man, the newspaper said.

Warren Udelson found the bags on the apron of his garage in the alley behind his house about 11 a.m. Wednesday.

At first he was not aware of the bags' contents, but when he nudged them with his foot he "noticed there was some weight to them," he told the newspaper.

He untied one bag to inspect its contents and realized it was double-bagged, so he used a penknife to cut through a corner and "came to what looked like a foot inside a sock, so I came inside and called police," he said.

An autopsy on Ramirez was slated for later Thursday.