MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating after a foul odor led to the discovery of a dead body in Miami Beach.
Miami Beach Police officers responded to an apartment building in the area of 15th Street and Michigan Avenue at approximately 6 p.m., Tuesday after a dead body was found.
“It’s like a scene out of ‘CSI: Miami,'” neighbor Sherry Abramson said. “It’s not something you would ever think happens in real life.”
One neighbor said the building had been under construction, which led residents to believe caused an increase in the rat population and the foul odor.
An employee of the leasing office entered one apartment to investigate the smell and found the dead body.
“One of the board members went in last night. She has the spare key,” Abramson said.
The board member called police and told others concerned in the community what she found.
“Officers arrived on scene and confirmed that we had a deceased individual,” Miami Beach Police spokesperson Shantell Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she could not discuss what happened because it remains under investigation.
“It’s a little terrifying being so close to it,” neighbor Erik Rodriguez said, “perplexing because this is not the kind of area that you would hear about this in Miami.”
Neighbors said the scene included swords, writing in blood on the wall and a rotting, decomposing body.
“There’s writing on the walls in his blood. It was heinous,” Abramson said. “A gruesome, awful, hideous scene.”
“It smelled for the times I walked by for the past two or three weeks,” a passer-by said.
Investigators have not said if a suspect has been arrested or identified, but sources inside the department told 7News there is a person of interest connected to the case, but they do not know where the subject is.
Despite the alarming accounts by neighbors of a potentially grotesque killing and no word of any arrests, police said the complex is safe.
“We don’t have anything else related to anything like this, and we are working quickly to make sure that the crime scene is processed,” Mitchell said.
Sources close to the investigation told 7News that a samurai sword was involved in some way in the crime scene.
The cause of death remains unknown.
If you have any information on this death, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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