BALTIMORE — He knows the back alleys of Southwest Baltimore, but Dominic Butler had no idea what awaited him as he passed by the trash-strewn back yard of a vacant home in the 1900 block of McHenry Street on Wednesday.
“It was like a mild scent,” recalled Butler, “When you walked through here, it was like a mild scent when you come through like something wasn’t living. So I don’t know how long he was back there.”
Later, police responded to the area and discovered the decomposing body of a man inside a trash can amongst the clutter.
“The only thing that bothers me is the fact that… just knowing somebody was found back there in the garbage that wasn’t even treated like a human being,” said Butler, “He was treated like trash. It’s sad.”
Police transported the body to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner here in Baltimore to try to determine the cause of death.
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At this point, they really don’t know what they have here whether it was a homicide, a fatal overdose or even a person who died from natural causes.
“There’s more ODs in this particular neighborhood,” a man told us, who did not wish to be identified, but he said both guns and drugs are common in the area, “Some of these people have a good head on their shoulders, but they wind up with the wrong crowd doing the wrong things, and this is the end of it. This is where they end up.”
Police say they didn’t find any identification on the body, which also presents a challenge in piecing together what happened to him.
“Whoever it was, I pray for his family and his children,” added Butler, “I hope that they can make it through.”
