The body of a New York woman found stuffed into a 55-gallon barrel last week has been identified as 42-year-old Nicole Flanagan.
On August 13, New Jersey police discovered Flanagan’s body near Teaneck Road & Hobart Street in New Jersey. According to the New York Post, Ridgefield Park residents smelled a foul odor coming from the barrel and contacted authorities.
Security footage from August 12 showed a man rolling the barrel out from the 95 Wall Street building in NYC. He then mounted it on a U-Haul truck at around 10:45 p.m. The following morning, the barrel was found in the Ridgefield Park neighborhood, on the day of trash pickup, CBS 2 reports.
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Residents in the Wall Street building said that investigators are focusing on a unit occupied by two men in their 20s.
“The police asked me if I smelled anything funny,” a neighbor of the two men told the Post. “But [they] smoked pot 24/7. I just smelled pot and bad air freshener, but I didn’t smell anything out of the ordinary.”
Another resident told DailyMail that the men seemed liked “harmless” good guys.
“They were OK guys. They would stop and talk. They were loud and would play hip-hop music but they seemed harmless. You never know. One day they seem harmless, but one day you’re in a barrel in New Jersey.”
Flanagan was reportedly an escort who had high-end clients in the Wall Street area. According to her obituary, she was also a mother of three, originally from Connecticut.
A Bergen County medical examiner reportedly said Flanagan had no injuries on her. A toxicology test will follow.
NYPD joined the investigation Wednesday. Police are still searching for the U-Haul.
Check back for updates.
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[Featured Photo: Nicole Flanagan/Facebook]
