The rotting bodies of two elderly men were found this week in their Brooklyn co-op – and police are now investigating how they died.
The corpses of the men, 77 and 68, were discovered already “badly decomposed” inside the home on Tehama Street near Dahill Road in Kensington around 1:20 p.m. Thursday, police said.
Officers discovered the bodies during a wellness check, authorities said. There were no obvious signs of trauma on the pair, law-enforcement sources said.
“What I can say? It’s a sad story,” said a building resident who only gave his first name, Micky. “One guy was very sick, he always needed help of the other guy, get him into a taxi, an ambulance.”
Micky said no one in the building knows many details on the mysterious deaths.
Police were conducting a wellness check when they found the badly decomposed bodies. Peter Gerber“We tried to call people around about [the smell] to see if anybody’s cat died or something,” he said. “Everybody was complaining about the smell. Five days, six days. It was getting worse and worse. Like dead bodies of animals.
“Once we started smelling it streetside, the only apartment was their’s,” Micky added. “We started ringing the bells around – the people who were alive, they answered. These guys didn’t answer, so we thought that they probably died.”
The city medical examiner’s office will officially determine how the pair perished.
Two men had been living in the building for about 10 years, neighbors said, but their exact relationship was not known.
Police said the two men lived together, and another resident described them as a couple. Peter GerberA building worker described them as a couple.
He said he smelled the foul odor before the bodies were discovered.
“[The residents] told me about it, so I tried to investigate,” the worker said. “I clean daily, so it wasn’t from my work. Then one of our residents called for a wellness check, and in doing so, the cops were sent over.
“They came to check, they tried knocking on the door, so no answer, and then I just took them up,” he said of the officers. “I set up a ladder, [and] they were able to climb in through the window.”
He said the deaths left him shaken.
“I didn’t know them, but I cried, and I also skipped my lunch,” the man said. “I couldn’t perform my duties, so I am catching up today.”
