Neighbor Discovers Dead Body in Abandoned Lakewood House

The Lakewood, N.J. police shield.

A property manager at a residence on Squankum Road discovered a decomposing body in a nearby home after being alerted to a foul odor by employees of an adjacent business, authorities said Friday.

The discovery was made Thursday night after 8 p.m., according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

“When the property manager made entry into the unsecured abandoned residence, he saw what he believed to be a deceased person,” said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

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Lakewood police, the prosecutor’s office and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department all responded to the residence at 8:32 p.m., Della Fave said. The male decedent was located in a bedroom in a state of moderate to severe decomposition.

Della Fave said there were no obvious signs of outward trauma or foul play noted.

A physician with the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office pronounced the man dead at 10:23 p.m., at which time the body was removed to Community Medical Center pending a post-mortem examination.

“A canvas of the neighborhood revealed that there were a few squatters seen in the area,” Della Fave said in a statement. “Most recently, the deceased was observed in the last two weeks at the residence. The residence was secured pending the outcome of the autopsy.”