Mexico City: An ethnic Russian woman and her young daughter have been found dismembered and their body parts stored in plastic garbage bags in the violence-plagued Mexican city of Tijuana near the US border.

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Baja California state deputy prosecutor Jose Maria Gonzalez said the drug-affected eldest daughter, 19, was the prime suspect in the grisly case, uncovered only when neighbors reported a foul smell emanating from the house in the middle-class district of Playas de Tijuana.

Authorities found the bodies of Yuliya Masney Safonchik, 45, and her 12-year-old daughter Valeria Lechtchenko on Thursday.

"The bodies were dismembered and stored in plastic garbage bags. Both were beheaded and the girl`s eyes were missing," Gonzalez said.

He said preliminary findings suggested another daughter, Anastasia, was behind the gruesome crime, motivated by a family feud.

The family had reported the girl`s drug use to the authorities. They had been living in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, for more than a decade.

The father, a gymnastic coach also of Russian origin, did not live with them.