HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) — Police are investigating after a woman was found dead in a trash compactor room Friday morning.
Officers responded to a 911 call in an apartment building on East 126th Street in Harlem just before 10 a.m.
When they arrived they found a woman in her 30’s without any clothing inside a second-floor trash compactor room. She was unconscious and unresponsive.
EMS arrived and pronounced the woman dead. There were no immediate signs of trauma to her body.
Cheryl Lago is the person who originally discovered the body and says she is still getting over it.
“It’s bad, it’s bad. It’s not a good thing to see, you know, a dead person,” she said.
It’s a horrible discovery that residents have a lot of questions about, but there wasn’t a lot of surprise.
They say security has long been a problem at the Section 8 building and strangers are in and out at all hours of the day and night.
“It’s always been an issue here,” tenant leader Jim Ratti said. “They got people running in and out of here all day long.”
Ratti’s lived in the building for 40 years. He says they’ve got good management, but big problems. He’s working to get better security.
“There’s drugs all over the building, you know, people sleeping in the building,” Ratti said. “The people who don’t get into the shelter, automatically this is shelter number two.”
On the second floor, Lago is coming to terms with what she saw. She says her heart goes out to a woman she never knew.
“Just lying right there on the floor, I’m sorry for her,” she said.
The Medical Examiner will determine the exact cause of death.
The investigation is ongoing.
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