NEW YORK (TCN) — Police are investigating after a man’s body was set on fire in a shopping cart and left under a bridge in Yonkers near New York City.
According to the Yonkers Police Department, on Monday, Aug. 5, at approximately 2 a.m., officers responded to the Oak Street Bridge in Mt. Vernon. Fire department officials had initially gone to the scene for a report of a fire but discovered a body after extinguishing the blaze. Yonkers Police investigators believe the victim “had been placed in a shopping cart and apparently set on fire at that location.”
Police said they could not initially determine whether the victim had been dismembered, but WCBS-TV reports the man’s body was missing teeth and hands.
In an updated news release, Yonkers Police said the body was set on fire in Yonkers, but “it appeared this was merely a ‘dump site.'” They named the New York Police Department as “the more appropriate primary investigative agency for this homicide.”
WCBS reports NYPD investigators searched an apartment in the Bronx and discovered a gun, drugs, teeth, and other body parts. Officials reportedly believe the victim’s body was transported on a MetroNorth train to Yonkers, where it was left.
The victim’s identity and cause and manner of death have not yet been revealed.