Police officials said Thursday that the human remains found by a sanitation crew in Queens earlier this week belonged to an unidentified woman whose extremities had been hacked away.
Only the victim’s torso was discovered about 100 feet south of the intersection of 149th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard, near Idlewild Park, on Sept. 22. New York City sanitation workers performing a roadside cleanup around 8 a.m. that morning when they noticed a foul smell and made the grisly find.
“It had several unique and identifiable tattoos which were not visible and not decomposed,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said of the torso. “The autopsy was done, and the doctor basically tells us, at this point, the torso itself does not have any wounds or injuries that would indicate any cause of death. The forensic anthropologist is still walking through it.”
Victim’s tattoos may offer clues
While authorities say they have yet to determine how the woman lost her life, they say the torso had a broken rib that most likely stemmed from the remains being dropped.
Several tattoos depicted a flower and three names, Chief Kenny said, adding that police are working through missing person reports in an attempt to match up the names.
“The doctor further states that he believes that straight edge instruments, such as a knife, were used to cut through the soft tissue, and some sort of saw was used to cut through the bone,” Chief Kenny said.
Police say the victim is believed to be of Guyanese descent, but her age has not yet been established.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding these remains can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.