Body parts found in trash bags on side of Bronx street

A Parks Department worker in New York City happened upon a grisly scene on a sidewalk outside Crotona Park on Friday when he found two black plastic bags with human body parts inside.

The two trash bags were discovered Friday afternoon by the parks employee, who initially thought they might contain a dead dog, according to New York ABC station WABC. The bags were both giving off a strong odor.

"My dogs went toward the bags and one of the parks people told me, 'Don't let the dogs go near there because it smells,'" a nearby resident told WABC. "She didn't tell me nothing [about what was inside], she just told me that it smells."

When the parks employee called for his boss and they began to open the bag, they saw human hair and immediately called police, WABC reported.

A large police presence immediately descended on the scene in the southern part of the park.

Police initially said they were unsure of the gender or age of the human remains, but now believe they belong to an adult woman, WABC reported.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Crotona Park is in the Claremont section of the central Bronx, about a mile south of the Bronx Zoo.