Severed body found in Schuylkill said to be missing man

Update: Police on Thursday said they have arrested a pimp and two prostitutes  in the death of a 40-year-old Northeast Philadelphia man whose headless and limbless body was found wrapped in plastic and floating in the Schuylkill this week.

Homicide Unit Commander Capt.  James Clark said Francis Zarzycki was suffocated during a robbery attempt at an apartment that is a front for prostitution on 200 S. 11th Street in Philadelphia. Zarzycki was a frequent customer, Clark said.

Charged with murder and related offenses are Keith Tolbert, 34,; Angel Weston, 21; and Stephenie Foulke, 22.

Clark said that after the robbery went awry and Zarzycki ended up dead on Aug. 26, Tolbert dismembered the body with a hatchet. The victim's head and limbs have not been found.

Earlier Story:

Investigators were questioning witnesses late Wednesday in the death of a Northeast Philadelphia man whose headless, limbless body was found floating in the Schuylkill, police sources said.

A man arrested in Center City on a prostitution-related charge was described by the sources as a suspect in the death of Francis Zarzycki, 40.

The case was being investigated as a homicide although it was unclear how Zarzycki died. His family had reported him missing about a week before a boater found his body Tuesday morning.

Police believe Zarzycki went to an apartment at 11th and Locust Streets to meet a woman before he was killed. Investigators searched the second-floor apartment Wednesday and crime-scene officers hauled off bags of evidence. Detectives were scouring the area for security videos.

Zarzycki's body was found about 8 a.m. Tuesday on the river near Reed Street in the Grays Ferry section. His head, legs and arms had been severed, police sources said, but investigators were able to identify the body through an unusual tattoo.

Zarzycki's father reported him missing. No one answered at the Zarzycki home Wednesday night. A neighbor said she believed the elder Zarzycki was a retired police officer.

The family became especially concerned about Zarzycki's disappearance, the sources said, because he had struggled with drugs in the past. After alerting police, family members took their own steps to find him.

Checking his son's computer, Zarzycki's father found information leading to the apartment, the sources said. The family then found Zarzycki's car parked near the address.

Last week, after the car was located, investigators from Northeast Detectives and the Citywide Vice Unit questioned a man and a woman connected to the apartment about Zarzycki's disappearance.

Police did not believe the man and woman were telling all they knew. The man was still in custody Wednesday night on prostitution-related charges as authorities tried to have his bail increased.

Police are awaiting a medical examiner's ruling to determine what killed Zarzycki, which may prove difficult because of the condition of the body.