Woman’s Torso, Dismembered Body Parts Found In NYC, NJ Waste Transfer Stations’ Trash
A call went out to the New York Police Department (NYPD) Tuesday morning following the discovery of a female torso and leg at a Bronx waste transfer station. More body parts of the still-unidentified woman were found the following day.
CBS New York reported Wednesday (January 18) that even more remains of what New York police believe are body parts belonging to the same unknown woman were found by investigators aided by K-9 units. Two arms, both missing hands, were recovered from the trash. The Metropolitan Transfer Station services several areas, so it was not immediately clear from where the remains may have originated.
According to NBC New York, Elias Rodriguez, a man who works for the Metropolitan Transfer Station, said he was getting ready to drop off a load of trash when he noticed the remains.
“I only went in as far as where the pit is,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t want to disturb what is now a crime scene. And I saw the body, the body parts laying there. A torso and a leg without a foot.”
The search for more body parts extended to New Jersey when the NYPD secured all the containers they believed were dumped around the same time as the remains. In all, police searched five separate containers: three in New York, two in New Jersey.
A separate report from NBC New York revealed that NYPD law enforcement sources to NBC 4 New York said they were looking into a possible connection between body parts found at a waste transfer station in Kearney, New Jersey.
It was not made clear what body parts were found in New Jersey.
K9 units were used for initial sifting, but then police used 30 private carting trucks to help with tipping out the trash for further sifting. Sources told NBC that this was how the two arms were recovered.
The New York Post also reported that a head was discovered as well, but it remains the only outlet to reveal that information. Sources told the Post that it was still unclear as to how the woman, whom authorities confirm as being black, may have died and ended up in the trash, but authorities noted that the death had been recent.
The Post also noted that several trucks hauling garbage from the facility out of New York City that might be pertinent to the investigation have been secured as well. Police will hold those vehicles until they have a chance to sift through each truck’s contents.
Investigators are attempting to trace the body parts to the specific truck that dropped off the remains, hoping that by doing so they will be able to track where it originated. Sources told the Post that there were more than two dozen trucks that dropped loads of trash at the Metropolitan Transfer Station between midnight and when the body parts were discovered by Rodriguez.
The body parts have been turned over to the medical examiner, who will conduct an autopsy and attempt to determine just how the woman died. Although NYPD officers were no longer at the scene Wednesday, it should be noted that the investigation remains ongoing. No arrests have been made.
Rodriguez, who worked for three years as a paramedic, says he has seen gruesome sights before, but his co-workers have been traumatized by the recent experience.
One of them, he said, “looked a little flustered. This is something completely new to him. Obviously, he’s in shock.”
The New York transfer station where the body parts were originally found is privately owned and the owner has not responded to any appeals for a comment on the remains or the investigation.
[Featured Image by Fer Gregory/Shutterstock]
