Human Limbs Found in Refrigerator Floating Along Canal: Police

A set of two human arms and legs have been found inside a refrigerator that was floating along a canal, according to Belgian investigators.

Police officers in Belgium were alerted to reports that a refrigerator was floating down along the Albert Canal in Hermalle-sous-Argenteau, 80 miles east of the capital Brussels, on Tuesday, July 25.

The refrigerator was found by a passerby who managed to pull it toward the edge of the canal and then phone the police, according to the Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen (GVA). A team from the shipping police was deployed to remove the refrigerator from the water and found two human legs and arms, which they presumed belonged to a woman.

The Belgian Federal Police said physical-violence crimes such as murder and manslaughter have remained steady in Belgium over several years, according to Statista. It recorded there were 77,700 physical-violence cases that were filed in 2009 when compared to 66,400 in 2021.

Investigators have since carried out forensic testing on the remains, and a field laboratory was built nearby to process the findings.

Local Oupeye Mayor Serge Fillot gave his response to the discovery and told GVA he hoped whoever was behind the dismembering would be arrested.

Fillot said: "As a human being and mayor, we sincerely hope that the perpetrator will be arrested and held accountable for his actions. I also hope the family can grieve in the right way."

While investigators know where the refrigerator was found, they do not know where it originally entered the water. Police have not yet commented on whether the woman's identity is known at this time.

GVA reported investigators are considering whether it was thrown off a boat or from a vehicle. The refrigerator could have come anywhere in the West European country or even abroad.

In the U.S., which has about 30 times the population of Belgium, in 2021 there were 36,031 reported homicides in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bureau of Justice Statistics said there were an estimated 4,970 female victims of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter.

It found that 34 percent of those female victims were killed by an intimate partner and that 76 percent were carried out by someone they knew.

An estimated 12 percent of women were murdered by a stranger. For one out of every five female victims, the relationship between the victim and the offender was unknown.

Newsweek has contacted the Federal Police of Liege for comment via its website.