Apartment Manager Probes Water Leak, Finds Woman With Decomposed Body Of Mother

A 68-year-old woman’s decomposing body was found wrapped in a garbage bag inside a Queens apartment that she shared with her daughter . A building superintendent made the shocking discovery while checking out a leak.

On Wednesday, police were called to an apartment building near 102nd Street and 34th Avenue in North Corona after the superintendent of the building found longtime resident Cynthia Jones' body decomposing in the middle of the living room.

The superintendent made the horrifying discovery at the fourth-floor unit around 6:38 p.m. after a neighbor, who lives two floors down complained that water was leaking from her ceiling, reported WNBC.

"I tried to go upstairs to look at the leak, but she was not opening. I tried a couple times," he said, reported the outlet.

On failing to enter the apartment, he called the fire department, who broke the door down. They found the victim’s 45-year-old daughter living in the apartment alongside her mother’s decomposing body. She was taking a shower when the firefighters busted inside the residence. "We could hear somebody upstairs taking a shower," the superintendent said, reported the outlet. According to the police, the daughter was found disoriented.

It is unclear if Jones died naturally or if she was a victim of foul play. However, according to the superintendent, the daughter was known around the building to have been suffering from mental issues. Currently, she is not believed to be connected with her mother’s death.

A family member of the victim who arrived at the scene after being notified speculated that the 68-year-old woman died months ago, around July Fourth.

The daughter was taken to a local hospital for psychiatric observation. The city’s medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of the mother’s death.

A neighbor told the NY Daily News that the Jones family were one of the longest residents of the building and the victim had raised two daughters there. One of the daughters moved to North Carolina after getting married and the other lived with the mother.

"If you saw her in the hallways she would say hello and keep going," the neighbor said of the mother, reported the outlet. "My heart goes out to them because that could have been me. I could have had a heart attack and died by myself. My heart hurts for her."