Niagara Falls police are investigating the discovery of a body in a shallow grave behind a home in the 400 block of 22nd Street on Tuesday.
Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and Crime Scene Unit (CSU) detectives made the grisly discovery of human remains in a small plot of land, roughly 2 feet wide, 3 feet long and about 18 inches deep in the backyard of a vacant home at 417 22nd St.
The remains were found wrapped in blankets and investigators said they could not immediately determine how long they had been buried.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said the remains are believed to be those of a woman who lived in an apartment at 423 22nd St.
An autopsy by the Erie County Medical Examiner is scheduled for Wednesday morning, with investigators saying they expect the death to be ruled a homicide.
Police said they were led to the discovery of the body as part of a missing person investigation that began on Monday. Detectives arrived in the 400 block of 22nd Street around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and initially searched the backyard at 423 22nd St.
Investigators brought in a K-9, specially trained to locate missing persons, and discovered the makeshift grave, behind 417 22nd St., at about 10 a.m. Detectives spent about four hours digging and sifting through the area around the grave and recovering evidence from inside it.
They returned at mid-afternoon to execute a search warrant on the upper apartment at 423 22nd St. They removed a Husky dog from the apartment before conducting their search.
Sources told the Gazette the death may be connected to a domestic violence incident.
Neighbors, who asked not to be identified out of concern for their safety, said a man and woman, described as a boyfriend and girlfriend, lived in the upper apartment.
The neighbors said they sometimes heard and observed the couple “fighting.”
“Oh, you could hear them yelling,” one neighbor said. “Not that that is unusual in this neighborhood.”
The male half of the couple was reportedly hospitalized with a broken leg on Sunday.
Police also reportedly received a “check the welfare” call for the female half of the couple that same day.