Emergency Responders Find Body Under Concrete In Jersey City Apartment
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- The decomposing body of a Jersey City man was found covered in concrete inside his apartment, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.
Neighbors said the superintendent of the building at 55 Corbin Ave. smelled a foul odor and called police Tuesday when he couldn't get inside the apartment, CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported.
The neighbors identified the man as William Marshall, 66, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported.
Emergency Responders Find Body In Concrete Box In Jersey City Apartment
Firefighters broke the apartment door down and found the victim with clothing piled on top of him and hardened concrete on top of the clothing, officials said. A neighbor said the super told him the body had been there for about four days.
Firefighters chipped away at the concrete and found Marshall's body in a black garbage bag, Jones reported.
The prosecutor's office believes the death is suspicious and is still investigating. As of late Wednesday afternoon, the death had not been ruled a homicide.
Friends said Marshall had struggled emotionally after his wife was killed in a car accident 15 years ago. Prosecutors said he lived in the apartment alone, but neighbors said his stepson had been staying with him.
One neighbor said she hadn't seen Marshall since he returned from a rehabilitation center in July, Jones reported.
A neighbor, Marguerita, told WCBS 880's Levon Putney that the residents who live on the floor above the man had recently complained about mice and roaches. An exterminator was called in, but Marshall's relative told the super they did not need spraying, according to the neighbor.
Marguerita also said the super had grown suspicious because recent rent checks were not signed by Marshall.
Emergency Responders Find Body Under Concrete In Jersey City Apartment
The man's friends told Sloan the stepson had recently come to Jersey City from another state, leaving his wife and children behind. Neighbors said that the stepson told them if his father died, he wanted his safety deposit box.
"The son, the last couple of months, he was looking weird, walking around in shorts, putting a kind of Vaseline on his face,"
At least one resident of the building was so shaken up the incident that he said he might move.
"I can't live here," said Stephon, who lived two floors below the victim for about 40 years.
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