The limbless body of a woman was discovered in an eastern Brooklyn, New York, park Monday night by a local resident.

According to the New York Times, Robert Clouden told police he first saw the figure in Canarsie Park while walking his dog Monday morning, but initially didn’t recognize it as a dismembered torso.

“I didn’t see any legs, and I don’t recall if I saw any arms,” he told the paper. “But the torso was very small, so I thought it was a doll. And that’s why I just left it and continued upon my walk with my dog, not realizing that it was actually a human being that was lying there.”

Clouden, 53, told the New York Daily News that he noticed a flurry of police activity around the park when he went to take his Maltese Maxwell for an evening stroll, and suddenly registered that what he saw earlier was actually a woman’s body. He called 911, then went to the location around E. 86th St. and Seaview Ave. at 6:10pm to lead cops to the remains.

“It was a path I don’t normally take with him,” Clouden told the Daily News, estimating the location of the body about 10 or 12 feet off an established path.

“It was a petite body. It wasn’t that big. That’s what made me think it was a doll.”

A New York Police Department spokesperson told the New York Times that when Clouden brought officers to the location of the body, they discovered a nude, limbless woman’s torso obscured under bushes in a prone position.

The medical examiner is investigating the exact cause of death, and will attempt to determine the woman’s identity. CBS New York reports that though the victim is thought to be an African American woman, no other details about her have been released to the public. Authorities believe her arms and legs were cut off of her body.

Clouden, a longtime Canarsie resident, shared his horrified reaction to what had happened with the Daily News. “This is a shock,” he said. “It’s a very quiet neighborhood.”

[Feature image: News 12 video screenshot]