A man whose body was wrapped in a tarp, tied to a cinder block and dumped into the water was killed by blunt force trauma to the head, the Medical Examiner said Sunday.
The Medical Examiner said the man's death was a homicide. His identity hasn't been released.
The body was discovered in the water near East 58th Street and Avenue U in Mill Basin, police said.
There was an electrical cord wrapped around the man's leg that was attached to a cinder block, police said. The blue tarp that enveloped his body was sealed with duct tape from his knees to his ankles.
Stephanie Kelso said she believes the body had been there since at least Friday evening, when a friend of hers had mentioned seeing a blue tarp floating in the basin where the body was recovered.
Alex Newirth said he was at a synagogue in the area Saturday morning when he heard helicopters overhead and other activity. A short time later, he heard about the gruesome discovery.
"That's the way they try to get rid of the evidence, but unfortunately for them, he was able to surface," Newirth said of the man's potential killers.
