citizen_sleuth
Verified family member - Orie Donald Esh thread
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- Aug 2, 2021
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NamUs #UP8168
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Uncertain [NOTE: Newspaper reports say the man was possibly a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned Black]
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 60
Estimated Age Range (Years): 20-60
Estimated Year of Death: 1990
Estimated PMI: Days
Height: Cannot Estimate
Weight: Cannot Estimate
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: March 4, 1990 (torso) & March 10, 1990 (head & limbs)
NamUs Case Created: December 1, 2010
ME/C QA Reviewed: December 2, 2010
Location Found: New York, New York (torso) & Bronx, New York (head & limbs)
County: New York County
Circumstances of Recovery: On March 4, 1990, the torso of a man, believed to be a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned Black, was found wrapped in plastic garbage bags and placed in a cardboard box on a footpath near the Cloisters in a wooded area of Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood. The head and limbs were not recovered.
Less than a week later, on March 10, three boys -- ages 9, 10, and 13 -- were playing on a dead-end street at Boone Avenue and East 172nd Street in the South Bronx when they stumbled upon a cardboard box near a fire hydrant. Inside the box was what the boys believed was a ball of rags. The boys began kicking the 'ball' up the street before tossing it into a trashcan fire.
Ralph Rodriguez, the father of one of the boys, was washing his car with an open fire hydrant noticed a human leg sticking out of a garbage bag in the box the boys got the 'ball' from and realized that the 'ball' was not a ball at all -- it was a severed head. Officers responded to the area and confirmed that the 'ball' was indeed a severed head, and found that the two garbage bags contained arms and legs.
"I saw the hacked-up limbs," said one of the boys who discovered the head. "I've seen dead bodies before, but this was wild. This was like some horror movie."
Nearly a month after the head and limbs were found in the Bronx, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the remains matched the torso found in Fort Tryon Park on March 4. The cause of death was determined to be homicide by a single gunshot to the head.
Authorities believed the man had been killed and dismembered elsewhere, and his remains later dumped at the two locations. According to residents, the area where the limbs and head were recovered is a popular dumping ground for bodies, nicknamed "the morgue."
On NamUs, no mention is made of the head and limbs being recovered, so it is unclear if the torso was later ruled out as a match to the head and limbs found in the Bronx or if the information was entered incorrectly.
Inventory of Remains: Head not recovered; One or more limbs not recovered; One or both hands not recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial remains with soft tissues
Physical Description
Hair Color: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say black hair]
Body Hair Description: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say he had a thin mustache]
Eye Color: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say brown eyes]
Distinctive Physical Features: 1" and 2.25" scars on right buttock, 1" and 1.25" scars on right abdomen
Clothing and Accessories
- Black Petroleum pants (size 34/35) and purple and blue striped Firenze briefs (On the Body)
News Coverage
Gene D. Palmer, "Boys' 'Soccer' Ball Is a Human Head," Newsday [New York, NY], 11 March 1990, 37.
The rest of the body was discovered nearby, wrapped in two plastic bags and concealed in a cardboard box on the sidewalk at E. 172nd Street and Boone Avenue, said police Sgt. Norris Hollomon. He said the charred remains of the head were retrieved and that the body had not been identified. An investigation was under way.
Charles M. Sennott, "Grisly South Bronx discovery: 'Ball' is human head," Daily News [New York, NY], 12 March 1990, 5.
The arms and legs of the dismembered body, believed to have been a male Hispanic in his late teens, were found nearby, wrapped in two green garbage bags and left in a cardboard box on the sidewalk at Boone Ave. and 172nd St.
The torso was not found, police said, but detectives were looking at a possible link to the discovery last week of a male Hispanic torso at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. The unidentified torso was also found wrapped in plastic garbage bags and stuffed in a cardboard box.
[...]
Just before 3 p.m., the boys, ranging in age from 9 to 13, found a box on the sidewalk. Inside were two plastic garbage bags and what the boys said they thought was a ball of rags.
They kicked the object up the street for about 10 yards and then threw it in a trashcan fire.
[...]
The body has not yet been identified and police yesterday were continuing a homicide investigation.
The abandoned block is a popular spot to wash cars because of two open hydrants. But some residents call it "the morgue."
They say there have been at least five bodies dumped there in the last two years.
Louis Cruz, 13, said: "I saw the hacked-up limbs. I've seen dead bodies before, but this was wild. This was like some horror movie."
"Police: Head kicked by kids belongs in other borough," Reporter Dispatch [White Plains, NY], 12 March 1990, 4A.
A wrapped-up human head that three South Bronx boys unknowingly used as a soccer ball may belong to a torso found in Manhattan, police said today.
The father of one of the boys discovered Saturday that the ball of rags his son was playing with was a severed head, according to a police spokeswoman, Sgt. Mary Wrensen.
Detectives are investigating whether the head -- and the limbs that were found nearby -- match a man's trunk found in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan, she said today. The torso was discovered March 4 along a footpath in a wooded area at The Cloisters.
The boys, ages 9, 10 and 13, apparently pulled the head Saturday out of a box of trash next to fire hydrant on the dead end of East 172nd Street.
Ralph Rodriguez was washing his car at the hydrant, Wrensen said.
"The kids started to play soccer with the object and then threw it into a trash can containing a fire," she said.
After the object went into the fire, Rodriguez noticed a human leg sticking out of a garbage bag in the box and realized what the "ball" was.
He looked closer and found arms and legs, police said.
George Andreassi, "ID sought for victim of mutilation," Reporter Dispatch [White Plains, NY], 7 April 1990, 2A.
A severed head that a group of central Bronx children unwittingly kicked around like a soccer ball has been matched with a torso found in a cardboard box in a park in Upper Manhattan, police said yesterday.
"We're trying to determine who he is and where he's from," said Detective Sgt. Andrew Eanniello of the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights.
The man was described as a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned black, 20 to 30 years old. The dead man was reported to have brown eyes [and] black hair, a thin moustache [sic] and a 34-inch waist.
The head was found March 10 near Boone Avenue and East 172nd Street, a block away from the Sheridan Expressway, police said.
[...]
The head had one bullet wound, police said.
[...]
The New York City Medical Examiner's Office subsequently determined that the head belonged to the same person as a torso that was found March 4 in a cardboard box in Fort Tryon Park in the 34th Precinct, police said.
"We don't really know where he was killed," Eanniello said. "We've got to be dealing with a third location where he was dismembered.
"It's obvious he was not killed where the two sections were found," Eanniello said. "The body was found in the park. He certainly wasn't cut up there. The skull was found in the street."
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Uncertain [NOTE: Newspaper reports say the man was possibly a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned Black]
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 60
Estimated Age Range (Years): 20-60
Estimated Year of Death: 1990
Estimated PMI: Days
Height: Cannot Estimate
Weight: Cannot Estimate
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: March 4, 1990 (torso) & March 10, 1990 (head & limbs)
NamUs Case Created: December 1, 2010
ME/C QA Reviewed: December 2, 2010
Location Found: New York, New York (torso) & Bronx, New York (head & limbs)
County: New York County
Circumstances of Recovery: On March 4, 1990, the torso of a man, believed to be a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned Black, was found wrapped in plastic garbage bags and placed in a cardboard box on a footpath near the Cloisters in a wooded area of Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood. The head and limbs were not recovered.
Less than a week later, on March 10, three boys -- ages 9, 10, and 13 -- were playing on a dead-end street at Boone Avenue and East 172nd Street in the South Bronx when they stumbled upon a cardboard box near a fire hydrant. Inside the box was what the boys believed was a ball of rags. The boys began kicking the 'ball' up the street before tossing it into a trashcan fire.
Ralph Rodriguez, the father of one of the boys, was washing his car with an open fire hydrant noticed a human leg sticking out of a garbage bag in the box the boys got the 'ball' from and realized that the 'ball' was not a ball at all -- it was a severed head. Officers responded to the area and confirmed that the 'ball' was indeed a severed head, and found that the two garbage bags contained arms and legs.
"I saw the hacked-up limbs," said one of the boys who discovered the head. "I've seen dead bodies before, but this was wild. This was like some horror movie."
Nearly a month after the head and limbs were found in the Bronx, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the remains matched the torso found in Fort Tryon Park on March 4. The cause of death was determined to be homicide by a single gunshot to the head.
Authorities believed the man had been killed and dismembered elsewhere, and his remains later dumped at the two locations. According to residents, the area where the limbs and head were recovered is a popular dumping ground for bodies, nicknamed "the morgue."
On NamUs, no mention is made of the head and limbs being recovered, so it is unclear if the torso was later ruled out as a match to the head and limbs found in the Bronx or if the information was entered incorrectly.
Inventory of Remains: Head not recovered; One or more limbs not recovered; One or both hands not recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial remains with soft tissues
Physical Description
Hair Color: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say black hair]
Body Hair Description: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say he had a thin mustache]
Eye Color: Unknown [NOTE: Newspaper articles say brown eyes]
Distinctive Physical Features: 1" and 2.25" scars on right buttock, 1" and 1.25" scars on right abdomen
Clothing and Accessories
- Black Petroleum pants (size 34/35) and purple and blue striped Firenze briefs (On the Body)
News Coverage
Gene D. Palmer, "Boys' 'Soccer' Ball Is a Human Head," Newsday [New York, NY], 11 March 1990, 37.
The rest of the body was discovered nearby, wrapped in two plastic bags and concealed in a cardboard box on the sidewalk at E. 172nd Street and Boone Avenue, said police Sgt. Norris Hollomon. He said the charred remains of the head were retrieved and that the body had not been identified. An investigation was under way.
Charles M. Sennott, "Grisly South Bronx discovery: 'Ball' is human head," Daily News [New York, NY], 12 March 1990, 5.
The arms and legs of the dismembered body, believed to have been a male Hispanic in his late teens, were found nearby, wrapped in two green garbage bags and left in a cardboard box on the sidewalk at Boone Ave. and 172nd St.
The torso was not found, police said, but detectives were looking at a possible link to the discovery last week of a male Hispanic torso at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. The unidentified torso was also found wrapped in plastic garbage bags and stuffed in a cardboard box.
[...]
Just before 3 p.m., the boys, ranging in age from 9 to 13, found a box on the sidewalk. Inside were two plastic garbage bags and what the boys said they thought was a ball of rags.
They kicked the object up the street for about 10 yards and then threw it in a trashcan fire.
[...]
The body has not yet been identified and police yesterday were continuing a homicide investigation.
The abandoned block is a popular spot to wash cars because of two open hydrants. But some residents call it "the morgue."
They say there have been at least five bodies dumped there in the last two years.
Louis Cruz, 13, said: "I saw the hacked-up limbs. I've seen dead bodies before, but this was wild. This was like some horror movie."
"Police: Head kicked by kids belongs in other borough," Reporter Dispatch [White Plains, NY], 12 March 1990, 4A.
A wrapped-up human head that three South Bronx boys unknowingly used as a soccer ball may belong to a torso found in Manhattan, police said today.
The father of one of the boys discovered Saturday that the ball of rags his son was playing with was a severed head, according to a police spokeswoman, Sgt. Mary Wrensen.
Detectives are investigating whether the head -- and the limbs that were found nearby -- match a man's trunk found in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan, she said today. The torso was discovered March 4 along a footpath in a wooded area at The Cloisters.
The boys, ages 9, 10 and 13, apparently pulled the head Saturday out of a box of trash next to fire hydrant on the dead end of East 172nd Street.
Ralph Rodriguez was washing his car at the hydrant, Wrensen said.
"The kids started to play soccer with the object and then threw it into a trash can containing a fire," she said.
After the object went into the fire, Rodriguez noticed a human leg sticking out of a garbage bag in the box and realized what the "ball" was.
He looked closer and found arms and legs, police said.
George Andreassi, "ID sought for victim of mutilation," Reporter Dispatch [White Plains, NY], 7 April 1990, 2A.
A severed head that a group of central Bronx children unwittingly kicked around like a soccer ball has been matched with a torso found in a cardboard box in a park in Upper Manhattan, police said yesterday.
"We're trying to determine who he is and where he's from," said Detective Sgt. Andrew Eanniello of the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights.
The man was described as a dark-skinned Hispanic or light-skinned black, 20 to 30 years old. The dead man was reported to have brown eyes [and] black hair, a thin moustache [sic] and a 34-inch waist.
The head was found March 10 near Boone Avenue and East 172nd Street, a block away from the Sheridan Expressway, police said.
[...]
The head had one bullet wound, police said.
[...]
The New York City Medical Examiner's Office subsequently determined that the head belonged to the same person as a torso that was found March 4 in a cardboard box in Fort Tryon Park in the 34th Precinct, police said.
"We don't really know where he was killed," Eanniello said. "We've got to be dealing with a third location where he was dismembered.
"It's obvious he was not killed where the two sections were found," Eanniello said. "The body was found in the park. He certainly wasn't cut up there. The skull was found in the street."
