from wfyy tv in greenville sc:
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The hands and feet found in bags outside two Greenville residences belonged to a 34-year-old Greenville woman who was reported to be alive on Friday, investigators said Tuesday afternoon.
Greenville County Coroner Parks Evans said that investigators have not determined whether the woman, Mekole Michelle Harris, was alive or dead when her hands and feet were removed.
Evans said that the case is not yet being classified as homicide, but that if Harris was alive and not under surgical care at the time her hands and feet were removed, it's unlikely she could have survived.
Harris' mother, Jessie Harris of Fountain Inn, said that she last spoke to her daughter a week ago. Other family members said that she had been seen at a store on Friday.
"I believe she's gone. She's gone. She's gone. She's not living like that," Jesse Harris said.
Evans said that fingerprint evidence identified the hands as belonging to Harris. Evans said that while there is no definitive proof, there is no reason not to believe the feet were also removed from Harris.
The hands and feet were not decomposing, indicating that they were removed only a short time before they were found, Evans said.
The last known address for Harris was a house on King Street in Greenville.
The youngest of six children, Mekole Harris was the mother of four children.
Her mother said that she struggled with drug problem for most of her life.
"She was on drugs for a very long time and she had started when she was very young," Jessie Harris said. "She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to die like that."
She also made a plea to her daughter's killer:
"Just tell us where she is, please. We need to know," she said. "Bring her where she can be seen."
Body Parts Placed At Sisters' Residences
Two bags, each containing one of Harris' hands and a foot, were discovered outside an apartment and a house in Greenville on Monday morning.
Family members of sisters who lived at the residences just want to know why someone would do such a thing.
One of the sisters lives at an apartment at the Andover Park complex on Cleveland Street where one bag was left. Until about a week ago, the other sister lived at a house on Rose Avenue where the other bag was discovered.
Greenville police are using surveillance video and have conducted interviews with family members of the women in an effort to get some answers.
"That's terrible. That's a terrible thing to have happened to anybody," the sisters' father, John Lewis Burnside, said. "It just is wrong. That's the way I look at it, it's wrong for a person to commit a crime like that. "
Greenville Police Cpl. Jason Rampey said that at about 7:55 a.m. Monday morning, police responded to a call from Andover Park.
One of the sisters had called after finding the bag outside her apartment.
While officers were investigating that call, they were called about a similar discovery at the home on Rose Avenue, about a mile and a half away.
A neighbor said that the hand and foot were in a black plastic bag on the porch.
"When I saw that bag on the front porch this morning, I got a funny feeling that something just wasn't right," neighbor Andrea Young said.
Young said her dog had crossed the street to sniff at the bag.
"We're dumbfounded, we don't know what to think right now," Sirrine-Haynie neighborhood watch president Felsie Harris said.
Police said that they checked the sisters' 15 siblings to make sure that they are OK.
"Any human being on this Earth shouldn't be waking up seeing things like this," Johnny Burnside, one of the sisters’ brothers, said. "I wouldn't want that on anybody, even my worst enemy."
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The hands and feet found in bags outside two Greenville residences belonged to a 34-year-old Greenville woman who was reported to be alive on Friday, investigators said Tuesday afternoon.
Greenville County Coroner Parks Evans said that investigators have not determined whether the woman, Mekole Michelle Harris, was alive or dead when her hands and feet were removed.
Evans said that the case is not yet being classified as homicide, but that if Harris was alive and not under surgical care at the time her hands and feet were removed, it's unlikely she could have survived.
"I do think we're looking for the rest of the body and at that time, as soon as that's recovered, it will become a homicide investigation," Evans said. Harris' mother, Jessie Harris of Fountain Inn, said that she last spoke to her daughter a week ago. Other family members said that she had been seen at a store on Friday.
"I believe she's gone. She's gone. She's gone. She's not living like that," Jesse Harris said.
Evans said that fingerprint evidence identified the hands as belonging to Harris. Evans said that while there is no definitive proof, there is no reason not to believe the feet were also removed from Harris.
The hands and feet were not decomposing, indicating that they were removed only a short time before they were found, Evans said.
The last known address for Harris was a house on King Street in Greenville.
The youngest of six children, Mekole Harris was the mother of four children.
Her mother said that she struggled with drug problem for most of her life.
"She was on drugs for a very long time and she had started when she was very young," Jessie Harris said. "She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to die like that."
She also made a plea to her daughter's killer:
"Just tell us where she is, please. We need to know," she said. "Bring her where she can be seen."
Body Parts Placed At Sisters' Residences
Two bags, each containing one of Harris' hands and a foot, were discovered outside an apartment and a house in Greenville on Monday morning.
Family members of sisters who lived at the residences just want to know why someone would do such a thing.
One of the sisters lives at an apartment at the Andover Park complex on Cleveland Street where one bag was left. Until about a week ago, the other sister lived at a house on Rose Avenue where the other bag was discovered.
Greenville police are using surveillance video and have conducted interviews with family members of the women in an effort to get some answers.
"That's terrible. That's a terrible thing to have happened to anybody," the sisters' father, John Lewis Burnside, said. "It just is wrong. That's the way I look at it, it's wrong for a person to commit a crime like that. "
Greenville Police Cpl. Jason Rampey said that at about 7:55 a.m. Monday morning, police responded to a call from Andover Park.
One of the sisters had called after finding the bag outside her apartment.
While officers were investigating that call, they were called about a similar discovery at the home on Rose Avenue, about a mile and a half away.
A neighbor said that the hand and foot were in a black plastic bag on the porch.
"When I saw that bag on the front porch this morning, I got a funny feeling that something just wasn't right," neighbor Andrea Young said.
Young said her dog had crossed the street to sniff at the bag.
"We're dumbfounded, we don't know what to think right now," Sirrine-Haynie neighborhood watch president Felsie Harris said.
Police said that they checked the sisters' 15 siblings to make sure that they are OK.
"Any human being on this Earth shouldn't be waking up seeing things like this," Johnny Burnside, one of the sisters’ brothers, said. "I wouldn't want that on anybody, even my worst enemy."
