The decomposing body of an East Harlem woman was found Friday afternoon in a plastic container across the street from a Bronx storage facility.
Police identified the body as that of 35-year-old Nisaa Walcott, who worked as a beautician, the New York Daily News reported.
According to WABC, the body was found by a passerby who had noticed a dresser sitting on the curb and came back hours later to pick it up.
The plastic storage container had not been there when he originally saw the dresser, he told investigators. He called police because he saw a human foot sticking out of the container and noticed a foul odor.
Norma Menedez, who had known Walcott for 15 years and owned the shop where she worked, was shocked, the Daily News said.
“This is something you read about on the milk carton or watch on SVU,” she said. “This is not reality. She had a family who loves her.”
An autopsy has been scheduled to determine how Walcott died. Police did not say how long they believed she had been dead, although a relative reported her missing on Thursday, saying she’d last been seen on February 16.
Bernadette Butler Colon, Walcott’s aunt, posted on Facebook on Friday, saying that Walcott was the mother of a “beloved son.”
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[Featured image: Nisaa Walcott/Facebook]