Dead body found in garbage bag inside shopping cart in NYC

NEW YORK -- An investigation is underway after a body was found inside a black garbage bag in New York City.

The discovery was made around 11 a.m. on Saturday in the Bronx. Police said the unidentified person was found in a black garbage bag inside a shopping cart.

The stretch of Whitlock Avenue where the body was found is quite desolate - the sidewalk is closed because of construction. The body was found next to a massive construction site - it is unclear who discovered the body.

Police eventually moved the entire body and the cart into what appeared to be a body bag before it was taken from the scene around 3:30 p.m.

The person was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.

There is a playground about a half block away, and families were outside with children on Saturday.

One woman believes the body had been there since at least Friday.

"I found a man on the corner with a bicycle and he told me he saw yesterday somebody there. He look and say they think somebody died," she said.

Janise, a neighborhood resident, said it's "always really scary down there."

"It's not a good space to walk at night because it's really dark, so anything is possible," she added.

It is a neighborhood that was overcome by tragedy before. In 2018, Lisa Marie Velasquez was killed in an apartment on Longfellow Avenue - just a five minute walk away. Her body parts were scattered in bags at two Bronx parks.

The investigation is in its early stages, and it is ongoing.

The body has not yet been identified, and police do not have any information on how decomposed the body was, or who dumped it there.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.