Death deepens mystery of San Francisco body parts case

Mark Andrus leaves county jail with Public Defender Jeff Adachi after no charges were filed against him in the murder of a man found in a suitcase. Photographed in San Francisco , Calif. on Tuesday, February 3, 2015. less Mark Andrus leaves county jail with Public Defender Jeff Adachi after no charges were filed against him in the murder of a man found in a suitcase. Photographed in San Francisco , Calif. on Tuesday, February 3, ... more Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Death deepens mystery of San Francisco body parts case 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

There’s no crime scene, no time of death and no cause of death. The victim — if he’s a victim at all — has not been positively identified, and parts of his body are missing. Now, the central suspect is dead.

Nearly two weeks after someone abandoned body parts in the heart of San Francisco, police are in a problematic position as they try to solve a case that holds as much perplexity as horror.

Investigators have been working since Jan. 28 on the bizarre case, in which a man’s headless torso was dumped inside a suitcase in the South of Market neighborhood. A leg was found nearby among trash and debris, and the hands were gone.

By arresting their primary suspect, 54-year-old Mark Jeffrey Andrus, two days later, police suggested they believed Andrus had killed somebody, chopped him up and dumped him.

But after seeing Andrus sprung from jail due to a lack of evidence, then learning over the weekend that he died, city inspectors remained uncertain what type of case they have on their hands — a vicious murder or a more run-of-the-mill death, though one followed by a desecration and dumping of the corpse.

Police await more facts

“He was definitely our primary person of interest who developed into our main suspect,” Officer Grace Gatpandan, a police spokeswoman, said of Andrus. “As far as the investigation goes, the evidence is what we need to follow. We’re waiting for more facts to surface from the medical examiner to narrow down the search.”

Andrus died Saturday after checking himself into an undisclosed hospital. Police Chief Greg Suhr would not say what killed Andrus, but a source close to the investigation told The Chronicle he died after going into septic shock from “drug-related reasons.”

On Monday, Andrus’ estranged older brother, who lives in Washington, acknowledged that he had been notified by officials of his brother’s death, but said, “I have nothing to say.”

Investigators are hoping DNA tests can confirm whether the dismembered body is that of a missing Vallejo man close to Andrus, 58-year-old Omar Shahwan, who was last seen by his family on Jan. 21.

But the city medical examiner is also seeking to determine how the victim died in order to tell what crime — if any — has occurred. So far, all investigators have to work with is the torso and the leg, which might not be enough, according to experts in forensic pathology.

Several scenarios

If a toxicology report based on fluids in the torso comes back showing the victim died from a drug overdose, that might suggest he wasn’t slain. But if pathologists can find evidence of bleeding into organs from wounds, it might point to a fatal stabbing.

A third scenario is that the medical examiner will rule the death “undetermined,” because, without a head, they can’t see evidence of possible conditions like a stroke or head trauma, experts said.

“There could be a whole slew of possibilities of what happened to the victim,” Gatpandan said.

What is known is that Andrus was a former roommate and friend of Shahwan. According to their mutual friend, Mark Keever, Andrus had Shahwan’s identification card after the body was discovered and before he was arrested.

Police built their case against Andrus after obtaining security video they said showed him near the scene when the suitcase was dumped. But city prosecutors said they couldn’t prove he had committed a crime and released him.

Now, Andrus’ death is another piece of the puzzle.

“We provided him with housing for the one night,” said his attorney, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who picked up Andrus from jail on the night of Feb. 3. “He had friends and people that he knew. That’s what I understand his plans were.”

Friend’s account

According to Keever, Andrus stopped by his apartment to borrow a sleeping bag after being released. He said he presumed his friend needed it to sleep outdoors.

Keever has said he met his friend in line at a methadone clinic, but it was not clear if Andrus was seeking any kind of drug treatment upon his release.

“It’s different if the client has a future court date or a reporting mechanism that he has to comply with,” Adachi said when asked about potential drug treatment for Andrus. “There were no charges filed against him. He was free to return to the situation he had been in.”

Investigators may get a big break when the medical examiner’s report comes in. But other important information that Andrus may have been able to provide is lost forever.

“It’s a tricky case,” Gatpandan said. “We can have probable cause to believe the cause of the death was murder, but it could have been something else at the same time. We don’t know.”

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky