Who is Eli Etzler? Man stumbles upon dismembered remains of woman killed by husband inside suitcase
DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA: Eli Etzler from Delray Beach is still coming to terms with the shocking events of July 21 when he stumbled upon a suitcase filled with human remains near the Intracoastal Waterway. The gruesome sight left him deeply disturbed, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what he had found.
"I don't really know how to explain it, how to like put it into context, no one really does when you see something like that, it's just like it really grabs a hold of you and doesn't let you go," Etzler shared, clearly affected by the haunting discovery.
Who is Eli Etzler?
Etzler is a pool technician who had been working at his home when he noticed a disturbing smell. “Maybe it’s low tide smell because it was low tide at the time, so I really didn’t think nothing of it, but that’s when like I turned my head to the side, I saw that suitcase covered in flies, and that’s when I was like ‘Huh, that’s not good,’” he said. “I got my pool pole in the lid, I opened the bag and a foot just flew out,” reported Local 10.
He said ot was something that “just completely shocked me and blew my mind. I called 911 immediately, and it’s just the most crazy thing I’ve ever, ever seen in my life.”
As authorities investigated, they uncovered a total of five bags, all containing the remains of Aydil Barbosa Fontes, an 80-year-old woman. “When the cops arrived at the house and they said ‘This is the second one we found today’ and then I was like ‘what?’” Etzler said. “And then they were like ‘no, actually within the past hour.’”
(Local 10 News/screengrab)
'It really is something out of a movie!'
The police quickly arrested the victim's husband, 78-year-old William Lowe, on Thursday, August 3, charging him with her murder and the gruesome dismemberment that followed. "It's like something out of a movie, it really is something out of a movie," Etzler expressed, grappling with the surreal and horrifying nature of the crime. Investigators discovered evidence of a crime scene at the couple's Delray Beach home, and the chainsaw used in the dismemberment, still tainted with human remains, was found in Lowe's storage unit.
(Local 10 News/screengrab)
The couple had been married for around 15 years, making the heinous crime even more perplexing. Despite the darkness of the situation, Etzler expressed relief saying, “I’m really happy that the dude’s behind bars and they found out who did this because it’s just really, really, really dark." Lowe appeared in court, where the judge denied him bond. The motive behind the crime remains uncertain, leaving a cloud of mystery surrounding this tragic and gruesome incident.