He has been identified as Hezekiah Bernard.
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Police believe the young boy had been dead for one to two days before a Philadelphia Housing Authority sanitation worker found his body discarded.
Police say the worker initially picked up the container on August 22 at the Haddington Homes on the 5500 block of Cherry Street. The truck was driven to a housing facility where it stayed overnight.
The next day, the worker traveled back to Cherry Street to get more trash, and that's when the plastic container overturned.
"During the drive, the container overturned and the remains of a male were observed inside that container," said Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom during a press conference on Thursday.
Police say Bernard was found wrapped in plastic and a blanket and was shot in the head.
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After homicide detectives canvassed the neighborhood, handing out flyers describing the victim's clothing, Bernard's family came forward and made the positive ID.
"Again Mr. Bernard was 12 years old. He was brutally killed and placed in a trash can. The focus is the apprehension of those involved in the senseless death," said Ransom.
Sources say at one point the boy was in the care of DHS, but not at the time of his murder. Sources tell Action News he was not recently reported as a missing child.
No arrests have been made at this time.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.