NEW YORK -- A 24-year-old man is suspected of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a barrel inside his Harlem apartment for several days, a law enforcement source said.
Police responded to a call about a foul smell coming from the apartment on 140th Street and Seventh Avenue and discovered the woman's body inside the container. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Her identity has yet to be released.
According to the law enforcement source, the woman was planning on leaving her boyfriend to move to the Dominican Republic.
Her boyfriend is in custody at St. Lukes Hosptial under pyschiatric care. Police believe the woman may have been dead since Wednesday.
