Some residents on the 1000 block of Lathrop Avenue found what was later determined to be human remains in a car parked on their property around 8 p.m. on June 29, according to Forest Park Police Chief Thomas Aftanas.
Aftanas told the Review the investigation is ongoing and no cause of death has been determined. There are no suspects at this point.
“We haven’t verified that this is a homicide,” Aftanas said. “Obviously it is suspicious when you find human remains.”
Aftanas did confirm the remains are from a single human but did not know the age or sex.
The residents who found the remains had been renting their car port to another man. That man, Aftanas said, has been dead for some time, but the car remained on the resident’s property.
“It’s been there for some time, exactly how long we don’t know.” Aftanas said.
Aftanas declined to give any details on the car owner’s death, citing the ongoing investigation. He did confirm, however, the remains found in the car are not those of the owner.
Last night, the residents decided to remove the car from their property. It had a tarp over it.
“They knew [the car owner] was deceased,” Aftanas said. “They wanted to get rid of the car.”
They removed the tarp and broke one of the windows to get inside. Then, they saw a garbage can in the backseat. After taking the garbage can out of the car, they found bones and called the police.
