Police officers stumbled upon a gruesome crime scene that looked like something out of a horror movie.
The Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses on 1815 Bruckner Boulevard was the scene of a terrible and unexplained murder when police officers of the 43rd Precinct found the dead body of a Hispanic male, approximately 400 pounds, murdered and stuffed into a kitchen closet inside a duffel bag.
Officers were responding to another incident at the public housing on Saturday, March 19 when they detected a foul odor coming from another apartment. After narrowing down where the stench was coming from, officers were brought into apartment 6C only to find a revolting, bloody scene at approximately 2:57 p.m.
Blood covered the entire kitchen. A bloody hatchet was found on the floor. Cops noticed a large, blood-soaked bag inside a kitchen closet. Inside the bag was 52-year-old Angel Rondon, who was completely mutilated and decomposed.
“He was a wonderful neighbor,” said one tenant. “He was always nice to me and my kids.”
Crime scene investigators and city medical examiners were still at the scene over 24 hours after the discovery and believe the decomposing body had been left in the apartment for days before the horrible find.
On Sunday, March 20, the medical examiner’s office stated Rondon was repeatedly beaten in the head, which resulted in a skull fracture. His body was so badly decomposed he could only be identified through fingerprints.
According to police sources, 37-year-old neighbor Elizabeth Terc, who lives two apartments down the hall from Rondon, had called 911 on Saturday morning after she became concerned about the powerful stench that grew worse from when she first noticed it days before. Terc told police she last saw Rondon on Monday, March 14 after returning home from grocery shopping.
Although he did not live with his father, officers were let into the apartment by Rondon’s son, whose name was not released.
As of Tuesday, March 22, the investigation is underway, but no new information has been discovered, said NYPD spokesperson Lieutenant Mike Wysokowski.
