Story highlights Human torso found in suitcase, police say

Father of woman's baby held in death

(CNN) A purple suitcase may be a crucial clue as law enforcement officers conduct a multistate search for a young woman's remains, police in Boulder, Colorado, said Friday.

Investigators believe Adam Densmore killed Ashley Mead, the mother of his 13-month-old daughter, in Boulder and drove a circuitous route to Oklahoma in a 2001 Volvo station wagon with the child and Mead's body inside, Boulder police public information officer Shannon Cordingly said.

Mead's body may have been partially dismembered outside Shreveport, Louisiana, police said.

"There are concerns that some of the victim's body parts may have been discarded in a variety of communities the suspect passed through after the homicide," a police news release said.

Mead, 25, was last seen on Sunday, Cordingly said, and was reported missing Tuesday when she didn't show up for work. Also missing was the couple's daughter, Winter Daisy Mead.

Read More