Decomposing body found inside parked Brooklyn car leaves unanswered questions

The stench of death wafted through a Brooklyn neighborhood for two days before police found an unidentified woman’s corpse inside a parked car with Florida plates, leaving stunned neighbors waiting for answers.

“Never heard anything like it,” said Marsha Dibona, a lifelong local resident. “It’s something to think about. It’s scary that something like that could happen at all.”

Police arrived at the car sitting at E. First St. and Avenue Y in Gravesend shortly after 11 a.m. Friday to find the body inside the vehicle. Cops said there were no obvious signs of trauma, and the corpse was taken to the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death.

Dibona recalled sitting outside with her dogs when she heard a scream Friday morning, with police soon arriving at the scene and taking a second woman aside. The local resident later learned from cops that the second woman was apparently the owner of the black Chevrolet Trailblazer.

“The car was there for at least two days,” she said. “Maybe more. ... It doesn’t make any sense. It smelled like that for a while. The mail lady said it smelled terrible. They don’t know how long she was in there.”

The odor from the vehicle was overwhelming, with flies buzzing around the car in the sweltering heat. In an odd twist, a Christmas tree air freshener was seen inside the car with a crushed front left bumper, as if in a recent accident.

Two discarded bags of clothing were left sitting outside the vehicle, one a reusable Hawaiian-themed bag and the other a trash bag.

The identification of the dead woman was not released pending identification of family members, and the investigation was continuing, police said.

It remained unclear if the car was stolen, and there was no indication the victim was using drugs, police said.