A city worker picking up litter and emptying trash cans found a badly decomposed body wrapped in a green tarp in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Friday morning.
The Parks and Recreation worker made the discovery around 8:20 in a fenced in area near a parking lot off Martin Luther King Drive near Black Road, Philadelphia police said.
The worker told NBC10 that he called police after smelling something foul coming from the large plastic tarp. The body was wrapped in a blanket, then plastic and then dumped in the area, investigators said.
"The body was definitely carefully wrapped," Southwest Detectives Lt. John Walker said.
The body was so badly decomposed that police couldn't immediately determine gender or age.
"It's a horrifying scene," Walker said.
Police vehicles could be seen parked in the lot near a boathouse.
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The area where the body was found is being cleaned up for the spring season so it's unclear exactly how long the body may have been there. The water department was doing work in the area until about two weeks ago so it's likely the body was dumped since then, Walker said.
The medical examiner will likely use dental records and possibly DNA to identify the body, Walker said. Police will also look into all outstanding missing persons cases.
"If anybody has any loved one that is either missing or that they haven't seen in the past few weeks please contact our tip line," Walker said.
