Body Found in Van Cortlandt Park

Police and employees of the medical examiner's office remove the body of a man discovered in the woods of Van Cortlandt Park on Saturday, December 17, 2022. -Photo by David Greene

By David Greene 

Bronx Voice 

December 20, 2022

BRONX - The body of a man was discovered in the woods of Van Cortlandt Park. Officials say he looked like he had been dead for several days.

An unnamed police official stated that the male, between 50 and 60-years-old was discovered at 2:25 p.m. on December 17, in a wooded section on the southwest corner of Van Cortlandt Park, along Mosholu Parkway North and West Gun Hill Road.

The official said, "Police responded to a 911 call of an unconscious person... Upon arrival officers were informed a male adult was found unconscious and unresponsive." 

The police official added that EMS members pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.

A pair of Parks Department vehicles were pulled off on the shoulder of the roadway with several police vehicles as well as two vehicles from the Office of the City's Medical Examiner (OCME.) 

At 5:35 p.m. flashlights emerged from the woods as at least two detectives, two police officers and two employees of OCME appeared from the woods with the victim, who was inside a black plastic bag and being wheeled out on the gurney.

The police source noted that the incident does not appear suspicious at this time and the OCME will determine the exact cause of death. The identification of the man is pending family notification.

In 2017, Eugene Villani, a homeless man confessed to the 2013 stabbing murder of Efijenio Deletorr, 61, who was found dead along the Putnam Trail, next to the park's golf course on June 27, 2013.

On January 5, 2020, the body of Armando Amaro Espindola was discovered in the southeast section of the park at East Gun Hill Road and Jerome Avenue. The Office of the City's Medical Examiner determined that Espindola died of an acute intoxication by the combined effects of alcohol and cocaine.

On December 14, 2020, Parks Department employees discovered the badly decomposed body of a man discovered in the woods between a wall of the Croton Water Filtration Plant and the Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course.