California Woman Nabbed Pushing Smelly Trash Can Filled With Dead Man's Body Parts.

May 31 2011

(AP Photo/Ontario Police Department)

A police booking photo released by the Ontario Police Dept. on Tuesday May 31,2011 shows Carmen Montenegro, 51, who was arrested on suspicion of murder after she was found pushing a trash container containing human remains down an Ontario, Calif. street Sunday, May 29,2011.

ONTARIO, Calif. — A woman is under investigation for murder after witnesses reported to police that she was pushing a foul-smelling trash can down the street, which led to the discovery of a man's body parts in the barrel and what appeared to be bodily fluids at a nearby house, authorities said.

Montenegro was arrested Sunday after police found the garbage can filled with the remains, Ontario police Detective Jeff Crittenden said Tuesday.

Authorities have not yet identified the man, how he died, when he died, where he died or the relationship between him and Montenegro. Investigators were withholding information about which body parts were in the trash can, a 30-gallon plastic container, and which ones are missing, Crittenden said.

Montenegro, who listed her occupation as a clerk on police documents, has apparently lived on and off over the years in the house, which is owned by a family member, he said.

Investigators spent Monday excavating property around the house. A hole was found in the backyard and what may have been body fluids were detected, but Crittenden would not say if a grave or additional body parts were found.

The house is about 200 yards from where Montenegro was pushing the can in Ontario, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

Neighbors started calling police around 3 p.m. Sunday.

Crittenden said no other suspect was being sought but added: "We can't eliminate other people. We have to figure out the identity of the victim and figure out what kind of relationship the suspect had to the victim."

Police don't think there are other victims, the detective said. "It looks like an isolated incident, but we are still looking," Crittenden said.

People with no knowledge of Montenegro or the events, speculated that the woman had killed her boyfriend and tried to keep his body until the odor became too overpowering. "It would be interesting to know if his privates were in the barrel," said a stranger who heard about the case and came by for a look.