Police in Puerto Rico are looking for a Chicago man after they found a woman’s torso in an apartment on the island this week. Daunta Head, 53, is a seven-time convicted burglar who recently completed parole for a string of residential burglaries in Lakeview.
Puerto Rican officials say he had been on the island for three months but left this week on a flight to Orlando. They said they do not know his final destination.
Investigators found a woman’s torso inside a suitcase in the apartment where Head lived, according to the Puerto Rico Police Bureau. They found other body parts strewn about a nearby vacant lot Wednesday.
Investigators will use DNA tests to determine if the victim is a woman who was reported missing last week from an apartment complex that serves the homeless, according to local reports. Police said Head knew the woman, but they did not explain why the murder investigation is focused on him.
In November 2014, the Chicago police arrested Head for a series of home burglaries in Lakeview. One victim took a cellphone pic of Head as he walked out of her home. Moments later, “clear surveillance footage” carrying a suitcase stuffed with valuables onto a CTA bus at Ashland and School, police said.
Head was arrested two weeks later after detectives learned he pawned an item from the Lakeview burglaries on the South Side for $6. The suitcase he left on the bus contained a passport, 55 “banking records,” an iPad, a Kindle, an HP laptop, a Samsung DVD player, a purse, a digital camera, and miscellaneous jewelry.
After arresting Head, Chicago detectives took the unusual step of issuing a bulletin to identify the owners of “numerous” items they recovered from pawn shops, including cameras, laptops, and jewelry.
He later received four concurrent ten-year sentences for the burglaries, which were committed on the 3400 block of North Marshfield and the 1500 block of West Melrose.
He listed a home address on the 5300 block of South Indiana when police arrested him in 2014.
Anyone with information about Head’s whereabouts can contact authorities in Puerto Rico at 787-343-2020 or 787-891-3800.
