A headless human torso was found inside a Bronx apartment hours after neighbors heard shots fired, police and sources said Wednesday.
Cops discovered the remains inside a sixth-floor apartment on Summit Ave. near W. 162nd St. in Highbridge about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The person’s legs and feet were attached but its arms and head were missing, a police source said.
Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, neighbors heard gunshots but did not call police, investigators have learned. But neighbors later told their super what they heard, and he called 911.
“I have no idea why she didn’t call police when she heard gunshots,” said the superintendent, Orlando Medina. “I called in the wellness check the next morning about 11:30.”
Cops responded and were directed to the sixth-floor apartment, where they said a 30-year-old man let them in.
Once inside, officers found the torso in a blue bin. The night before, a man was seen on surveillance standing next to a container in a hallway outside the victim’s door.
“I went and I checked the video,” said building super Medina, 49. “I saw him on the video acting weird. He was coming in and out with all kinds of stuff. It wasn’t normal.”
A man is seen in several different outfits, including one with a long blond wig, as he moved through the hall, stills from the footage show. Police could not confirm what happened in the video, saying they didn’t have it.
“I was going to call the police regardless of the gunshots [because of what I saw on the video],” said Medina. “It’s nuts. You see someone alive one day and the next day he’s cut up into pieces.”
The man in the apartment was taken into custody for questioning. He asked for a lawyer and has clammed up, police sources said. No charges have been filed.
Cops have identified the victim as a 44-year-old man, who Medina says lived in the apartment. His name was not immediately released.
The man taken into custody did not live with the victim, according to Medina.
A person who lives in the building but did not want to be named claimed the victim was a high-end drug dealer.
“He had a lot of money and it was drugs,” the resident said. “I don’t know what kind of drugs, but it was big.”
An autopsy will be performed to determine how the victim died.
