Search on for identifying parts in San Francisco dismembered body case

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) -- An active search continued on Monday for identifying body parts in connection with the dismembered body case first discovered in San Francisco last week, according to police.

San Francisco police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan told KTVU the active search was being conducted by homicide investigators for identifying parts like a head or hands, but the location of where the search was happening was not released.

Body parts were first discovered in a suitcase and a trash can in the city's South of Market neighborhood on Jan. 28.

Authorities detained 59-year-old Mark Andrus in the Tenderloin neighborhood late Friday.

Gatpandan said Andrus was their original person of interest who is now being held on suspicion of murder, although it remains unclear what evidence is linked to him.

"After homicide spoke with him, there was enough probable cause to believe he did commit the crime and he was arrested," she said.

Mark Keever, a friend of Andrus, said the two met a couple of years ago.

"I met him on the streets," Keever said. "He's a nice guy. He treated me like a friend."

Keever believes Andrus is innocent.

"That's not him," he added. "He wasn't the one."

Authorities said they have not ruled out the possibility that the crime may have been committed in another part of the Bay Area, with the body parts later brought to San Francisco.

The medical examiner's office is in the process of trying to identify the victim and the cause of death remains under investigation.

Gatpandan said the San Francisco District Attorney's Office will decide whether or not to charge Andrus with murder. They are expected to hand over the case to the D.A.'s office by Tuesday.