A man's body was found wrapped in plastic on the roof of a McDonald's restaurant and local residents suspect it had been there for days.
People who live nearby said the corpse was emitting a sickening odour that was coming through their windows, and the man's feet were poking out of the bag, which was under a heavy blanket.
The alarm was raised when a maintenance worker reportedly made the gruesome discovery just before 6am on Wednesday, and a 911 caller told police it appeared only half a body was on the roof.
Aerial footage showed police standing around the body, which was near a corner of the roof and partially obscured by a tree's branches, which extend over part of the building in the Bronx in New York City.
Detectives from the NYPD are investigating whether the body was placed on the roof or if it was thrown from a window or the roof of an adjacent building, the New York Post reported.
Officers were reviewing CCTV footage from the area.
A 911 caller told police that only half a body was on the roof, police sources told the newspaper, although the NYPD did not confirm that claim.
Marsha, a woman who lives nearby, told the Post that her friend lives in an adjacent building and looked out her window and saw the body surrounded by flies.
She added: “The smell was pouring in through the window and the feet were poking out.
"He looked like he had been there a few days because he was lying all wet in the water from the rain.”
A woman named Nathalia, who works in a pharmacy next to the fast food restaurant, said the body was found by a cleaner, adding: “I heard it was thrown from another window onto the roof.”
The man's body was removed on Wednesday and taken to a coroner's office.
Officers were seen removing bags of evidence.
The cause of death is unknown and no-one has been arrested.
Local residents and customers were shocked when they found out about the discovery.
Madeline Cancel, a customer who arrived to find the restaurant closed, told ABC 7: "This is sad this is happening aside from all the bad things already happening, we should be helping each other not killing each other."
Ronald Simmons added: "That's crazy. I live down the block, for this to happen."
Mike Ortiz, director of rperations for the McDonald’s restaurant where the body was found, told Mirror Online: “We are saddened by this unfortunate situation.
"We have provided surveillance footage to law enforcement and are fully cooperating with their ongoing investigation.”
The restaurant has since reopened.
The discovery of the body came a day after a millionaire tech CEO was found decapitated and dismembered in his luxury apartment on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Detectives suspect a professional hitman killed Fahim Saleh, 33, whose torso was found with plastic bags containing his head and limbs.
