(Michael O’Kane) NYPD crime scene investigators and detectives examined this abandoned 1999 black Lexus near Forest Park in Richmond Hill. A man’s decomposing body was found in the vehicle on Monday.
The stench of decay, accompanied by a swarm of buzzing flies, wafted from a dusty black Lexus, rolled across Park Lane South and settled on the quiet houses facing Forest Park. It was concentrated in the back of the sports utility vehicle — a hatchback — where police found a dead body Monday morning.
Police have not yet identified the man, whose body was somewhat decomposed, but the city medical examiner is expected to examine the remains and possibly determine his identity.
Many Department of Sanitation workers have smelled their share of offensive odors, but the one emanating from the Lexus was strong enough to warrant extra attention.
A DOS supervisor was performing a routine patrol along Park Lane South when he got a whiff of the foul smell. After looking inside the vehicle — which had been ticketed on the block seven days earlier for obstructing street cleaning — and spotting what appeared to be a body in a garbage bag, the supervisor called 911 to report his findings, according to DOS spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins.
The corpse was discovered around 10:20 a.m., when police officers, detectives and neighbors gathered to watch as investigators opened the hatch and discovered a foot sticking out of a plastic bag. They also found a note saying the victim was a rat giving information to police, according to published reports.
Max Bohland, who has lived across the street from the southeastern end of Forest Park for 35 years, was not surprised to hear that a body was dumped near his house. It’s probably the third body discovered in the park since he’s lived there. But, he insisted, the Richmond Hill neighborhood is a great place to live and, overall, crime in Forest Park is low.
“It makes sense to drop (a body) off where no one would think to look,” park neighbor Yvette Marte said, noting that no one really notices which vehicles are parked along Park Lane South because Forest Park is a public space with many visitors.
She and her brother, Jonathan Gomez, were taking their daily stroll to a nearby gym on Monday when they spotted an NYPD Crime Scene Unit Vehicle, police officers and detectives examining the Lexus. “I told my brother it was probably a decomposing body or something” Marte said, but quickly added that she was shocked that she was right.
Peter Brucas was neither surprised nor worried about the grisly discovery. “It’s not like someone got shot,” he said. Since moving to Park Lane South in January, he has become accustomed to seeing people park and walk into Forest Park or over to a nearby bus station. This is why, Bohland said, “You’d never know if someone was up to something.”
The car is registered to Yuriy Grinchuk, 40, of Brooklyn, who was arrested twice this year: on Feb. 18 for allegedly making a death threat by phone to a Staten Island man and again in April for roughing up his girlfriend, according to published reports.
