Authorities provided new details on Monday regarding human remains discovered in a sleeping bag left on a Manhattan sidewalk awaiting trash pickup several days ago.
According to officials, the body found in the sleeping bag, which was also wrapped in additional bags, belonged to a 31-year-old woman who had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Police classified her death as a homicide, later identifying the victim as Yazmeen Williams.
Officers came upon the decomposing body in response to reports of a suspicious package emitting a strong odor outside a building in Kips Bay. The remains were found within a sleeping bag placed among other trash bags on the curb.
Social media footage and photographs depict what appears to be a full-sized body covered by a dark sleeping bag, further encased in black trash bags. Sources informed NBC New York that surveillance footage suggested an individual in an electric wheelchair was observed pulling the sleeping bag.
Police reported the arrest of a man in his 50s in connection with the incident, pending charges against him. Following his apprehension, authorities escorted him away from the Straus Houses area due to attempts by angry neighbors to assault him.
Officers and paramedics intervened to control the situation as physical altercations ensued, including punches thrown and instances of spitting. The tension persisted until the man was placed in an ambulance and transported to a nearby hospital.
“He’s disgusting… he looks like scum,” said Nicole Williams, the mother of the victim. “They were angry. He…took her life away…threw my daughter in a garbage bag.”
