When a years-old human skeleton was first found in a basement crawl space in Stapleton after Tropical Storm Irene last month, authorities didn't know where the bones came from. But now—just in time for Halloween!—the medical examiner has spoken, and things are looking pretty grisly.
For starters, the remains are officially the result of a murder. A stabbing murder. And the victim was "stuffed into a trap door leading to a basement crawl space," possibly as the result of a drug deal gone wrong.
SILive reports that investigators believe the body belongs to a man who was reported missing in January 2000. At the time, police discovered a "bloody scene" at known drug den 70 Broad Street, but they were never able to find a body. Sources say the killing may have happened after "an argument over a drug dealer's missing stash, which was once hidden in the crawl space."
The trap door was only discovered because the building's current owner had to replace carpeting damaged by Irene. Inside of the crawl space, the owner found leg bones and a jacket containing a skull. "I freaked out," he said. "I go to the Fire Department next door, and they said you’ve got to call the police." The trap door has since been sealed, though a serious case of the heebie-jeebies continues to run rampant throughout the space, which only the Beastie Boys can exorcise.
