Police say the victims have not been identified and may have been there for some time.
CLEVELAND, OH — The bodies of two young girls were found inside separate suitcases that were partially buried in shallow graves on Cleveland’s East Side, police said Tuesday, as detectives worked to identify the children and determine how they died.
The discovery set off a homicide investigation in the South Collinwood neighborhood and drew investigators from the Cleveland Division of Police and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police Chief Dorothy Todd said the case was in its early stages, with no arrests announced and no cause of death released. Investigators said they did not have local missing-child reports that matched the victims, adding urgency to the work of identifying the girls and tracing how they ended up in the field.
Police were called just after 6 p.m. Monday to a field near East 163rd Street and Midland Avenue after a 911 caller reported what appeared to be a body in a suitcase, authorities said. Todd told reporters that homicide detectives responding to the scene found a second suitcase nearby with another body. Both suitcases were partially buried, and officers treated the area as a crime scene while investigators searched for evidence in the surrounding field.
Todd described the victims as juvenile Black females and said their ages were estimates based on early assessments. One victim was believed to be between 8½ and 13 years old, and the other was believed to be between 10½ and 14 years old, she said. Police said the suitcases were found in shallow graves, and Todd said investigators believed the victims had been at the location for “quite some time,” though she did not give an exact timeline. “At this time, we don’t know how long” they were there, Todd said during the briefing.
Authorities said the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office took custody of the bodies and will conduct examinations to determine the cause and manner of death. Police said they were still working to confirm the girls’ identities and whether they were related. Todd said that as of Tuesday, there were no missing children’s cases in the city matching the description of the victims, and detectives were checking with state and federal partners as they expanded their search for matches and leads.
The crime scene was near Ginn Academy in South Collinwood, a neighborhood on Cleveland’s East Side close to the Lake Erie shoreline and the city’s border with neighboring communities. Residents described the area around the field as a place people pass on foot, especially when the weather improves, and police said the discovery was made after a period of snow and cold that had kept some people indoors. Investigators did not say whether the suitcases were placed at the site recently or were hidden there earlier and only noticed after conditions changed.
Police have not released details about the suitcases, what evidence was found inside them, or whether there were signs pointing to where the girls lived before they died. Todd said the investigation was in its “very early stages,” and police did not identify suspects or describe possible motives. Officers also did not say whether the bodies were found intact or whether any injuries were visible at the scene, noting that the medical examiner’s work would be key to answering questions about how the girls died and when.
A neighbor who discovered the first suitcase told local media that he was walking his dog when the animal lingered near disturbed ground and would not move on. The man, identified as Phillip Donaldson in an interview, said he saw what looked like a suitcase that was partially buried and checked it before calling 911. “I went back and looked, and it was a suitcase that was half-buried,” Donaldson said in the interview. Police said the caller immediately contacted authorities, who then secured the field and began a broader search that led to the second suitcase.
City officials said there was no indication of an ongoing threat to public safety as detectives continued to work the case. Police said they expected the identification process and autopsies to guide the next steps, including canvassing for surveillance video, interviewing nearby residents, and tracking down any reports that could connect to the children. The medical examiner’s findings and any future court filings are expected to provide the first detailed public accounting of how the girls died and who may be responsible.
Author note: Last updated March 3, 2026.