A grisly discovery was made in Central Park hours before snow blanketed the city, according to police sources.
A badly decomposed body was found by a jogger inside a tent behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art near East 79th Street and East Drive. The jogger made the gruesome find just after 12pm on Friday, January 28 and notified a Parks Department employee who then called the police.
Locals reported to UpperEastSite.com that a homeless man was living in an encampment near the 79th Street Traverse where the body was found. However, the body was unidentifiable. The NYPD could not even confirm if the “highly decomposed” remains were male or female.
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Police cordoned off the area, but UpperEastSite captured some video from a distance of the investigation and collection effort in Central Park. Two individuals believed to be from the City’s Medical Examiner’s Office arrived in hazmat suits and carried the body out a few hours later.
NYPD Sergeant Jessica McRorie confirmed to People that skeletal remains were found and that foul play is not suspected at this time. However, the NYPD intends to wait for the medical examiner’s office to make its determination about the cause of death.
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Unfortunately, similar discoveries have been made in Central Park before, including five other bodies in just over a year.
In September 2021, a 26-year-old man believed to be homeless was found dead with a rope around his neck at East 65th Street and East Drive. The cause of death was considered suspicious and it seems that the NYPD investigation is ongoing.
In July 2021, a man in his 40s was found floating in the Harlem Meer and was declared dead at the scene. At the same location on September 24, 2020, a man who was fishing hooked the body of a 30-year-old man.
On September 18, 2020, a 59-year-old man was found unconscious with no obvious signs of injury near West 109th Street and West Drive. EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
On September 7, 2020, the body of an unidentified adult male was pulled from the pond near East 59th Street and Central Park South.
