Gruesome mystery in Texas unveiled after new resident finds decomposing body in yard

New residents of a Houston, Texas home discovered a decomposing body in their backyard late at night, police told news outlets.

Houston police received the call around 11 p.m. Monday, Dec. 6, the Houston Chronicle reported. The residents said they “found something that looked human.”

Officers arrived at the home in central Houston and the residents pointed them to the spot where they found the corpse, beneath a bush, covered with trash, KHOU reported.

The house is divided into three units, according to KHOU, and one tenant said they had noticed an unpleasant odor but didn’t know what it was.

Because the body is so severely decomposed, police don’t know much about who they were, or how they died, but a man went missing from the home in early 2021 and was never found, investigators told KTRK.

“There’s people who have just moved into the home, so they weren’t here when the person went missing,” Houston police Sgt. Stephen Jimenez told the outlet, adding that nearby residents are being questioned “no matter how long they have been living here, [or] however short of time.”

The body is being turned over to the medical examiner’s office for further investigation, the station reported.

This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Gruesome mystery in Texas unveiled after new resident finds decomposing body in yard."