Corpse found in Brooklyn apartment

  by Carolina Leid, Eyewitness News

BROOKLYN (WABC) -- Residents of an apartment building in Brooklyn are asking for answers after one of their neighbors was discovered dead in his unit Saturday morning.

The body, identified as 60-year-old James Gale, was found in the Breukelen housing complex in Canarsie on 105th Street.

Neighbors say they have been complaining about the disgusting stench coming from Gales' apartment.

A man who just happens to work for the medical examiner's office, according neighbors, saw the apartment window open on Saturday.

Neighbors say they first noticed a stench, then flies and finally maggots. They say they called Housing Authority repeatedly, but staffers who responded didn't enter the Mr. Gale's apartment.

Neighbor, Jessie Livingston lives directly above the apartment where the body was found.

She showed Eyewitness News how she wrapped her pipes in tape to try to keep the stench out of her apartment.

Residents want to know why it took so long go into Gales' apartment and see if he was alive.

Neighbors say Gale was a veteran and his rent was paid directly by the Veterans' Association.

Sources say there was never a missing person report filed for him.

But residents and neighbors are not satisfied and say that the stench should have been enough of a clue that there was a dead body in the building.

"It's smelled horrible. It was an odor I never smelled before. I knew it was a body. I kept telling the neighbor, this man is dead in that apartment," neighbor Livingston said.

Eyewitness News is told man found dead had some medical issues, including gangrene. He apparently ended up losing some of his limbs.

New York City Housing Authority spokesman Howard Marder says officials are investigating when and how the man died, and records of any complaints aren't immediately available.

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WEB PRODUCED BY: Lakisha Bostick

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