Divers search for missing head, limbs of torso found in London canal

LONDON -- British police divers were searching an east London canal Thursday for the missing head and limbs of a woman feared to be a former "EastEnders" actress after they discovered a torso floating in the water.

The brother of 29-year-old Gemma McCluskie was believed to have been arrested in connection with the murder investigation early Wednesday and was still in police custody Thursday, Sky News reported.

Gemma McCluskie had lived with 35-year-old Tony McCluskie in Bethnal Green, east London, until she apparently went missing last week.

Police said the headless, limbless torso was pulled from a stretch of Regent's Canal in Hackney on Tuesday afternoon after a member of the public "noticed something suspicious floating in the water."

Though London's Metropolitan Police would not confirm the identities of either the victim or the 35-year-old man arrested, they were reportedly working on the theory that the body is the missing actress.

A statement released by police Thursday said officers "believe they know the identity of the victim," but they "must await further forensic tests before formal identification can take place."

This process could take "some days," it added.

The results of an autopsy "proved inconclusive at this early stage," police said.

After his sister's disappearance, Tony McCluskie, along with his brother Danny McCluskie, organized a search -- putting up posters and carrying out door-to-door inquiries, Sky News reported.

Gemma McCluskie starred in the long-running British soap opera "EastEnders" as Kerry Skinner in 2001, appearing in more than 30 episodes.

After she vanished, her former co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella both appealed for help to find her.

Click here for more on this story from Sky News.