Body encased in concrete removed from basement of Philadelphia home
Police removed a body encased in concrete from the basement of a Philadelphia home after receiving a tip that a woman who has been missing for eight years was buried there.
The row home on Burton Street in the Wissinoming section of the city has been a focus of a police investigation since they received the tip last week, WPVI reported.
Inside the home, investigators found a hoarding situation and spent two days removing trash and other debris. By Thursday evening, police had found evidence of human remains, law enforcement sources confirmed to the news outlet.
On Monday, officials were finally able to reach the remains, which were buried beneath a foot of concrete, and carefully chisel out the woman’s body.
The medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine whether the deceased individual — who has not yet been identified — was killed or died of natural causes before they were buried in the concrete.
Baffled neighbors told WPVI that the family who lived in the home have been gone for days.
“You don’t know what’s going on — all these rumors, all these stories,” said neighbor Melissa Rosario. “It took them so long to clean out the house. It’s like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s a lie and maybe there’s not a body there.’ And then to hear the body was there for eight years?”
Other neighbors told WCAU that they’ve seen investigators and workers in hazmat suits haul multiple dumpsters of trash out of the home in the six days since they executed a search warrant.
Police have not indicated how much longer they plan to be at the house.