Human remains set on fire in a shopping cart – connection to murder in New York

What began with reports of a fire at a location in Yonkers quickly evolved into an active murder investigation. For the past 48 hours, members of the NYPD have been actively investigating the case and the details of the information currently available are shocking, to say the least.

Investigations begin in Yonkers

At approximately 2 a.m. on Monday, August 5, 2024, members of the Yonkers Police Department arrived at the scene of an accident on a sidewalk near the Oak Street Bridge. The area lies between a jurisdictional boundary that Yonkers shares with the City of Mount Vernon.

Firefighters from the Mount Vernon Fire Department were already on the scene when the first reports of a fire came in at the location. They found a shopping cart that had been set on fire. It was only after the fire was extinguished that the human remains were discovered, which led to a 911 call to the police.

According to a Yonkers Police Department press release on their official Facebook page, detectives from the Major Case Squad and Crime Scene Unit began their investigation at the scene, where they canvassed the area and began collecting evidence.

Later that day, investigators determined and ruled that the case was indeed a murder, but also concluded that the specific location they were at in Yonkers was merely a “dumping site” and the actual murder had taken place elsewhere. For this reason, investigators turned the investigation over to the New York Police Department and the Bronx District Attorney's Office.

New York's best take the lead

Once the investigation was in their hands, members of the NYPD and the Bronx District Attorney's Office quickly began following up on the leads in the investigation. These leads led them to an apartment in the Longwood section of the Bronx.

According to News 12, after obtaining a search warrant, officers investigated the apartment and discovered additional human remains at the scene, located in the kitchen and bedroom. Another report from the New York Post revealed even more disturbing details of the investigation as police searched the apartment.

According to their source, investigators discovered a “crockpot filled with bleach with two hands sticking out of it.” Black bags believed to contain other remains were also discovered in a freezer. A firearm and drug paraphernalia were also discovered during the search.

The Post report also said investigators found surveillance camera footage showing two unidentified individuals loading a shopping cart with suspected remains of the deceased, boarding a Metro-North train and taking the remains to a location near the bridge, where they were set on fire.

This is merely the working theory as investigators continue to work on the case. Nothing can or will be definitively determined until the autopsy is completed by the city medical examiner's office. No arrests have been made at this time.

Because this case is constantly evolving, we will continue to update this story if or when new information becomes available.

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