An Ecuadorean man living in New York City has confessed to killing his wife and cutting off her head after she threatened to leave him.
The headless body of the woman (23) was found by a shocked passerby in a suitcase earlier this month between two parked cars in Harlem.
Police on Thursday said she was eventually identified as the wife of Mr Oscar Pilanunga, who lives in Queens. The couple had been married nine years and had two children.
"She wanted to leave him," police inspector Joseph Luongo said. "They had an argument. He choked her, then got a hand saw and cut off her head," he said.
Mr Pilanunga (24) at first denied any involvement in his wife's murder but then confessed, the inspector said. He faces 25 years to life if convicted.
"We are trying to ascertain where he deposited the head," Luongo said. Police are not giving the dead woman's name until her family in Ecuador have been informed.