PACIFIC, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
The region's Major Case Squad is investigating an apparent homicide in Pacific just off I-44. Detectives were called in after workers at the Monroe Woods Apartment complex discovered an adult body in a residential sized plastic trash bin just after 12 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. The frightening discovery in Pacific has residents on edge.The apartment manager said the body was in a bin, next to a dumpster, in a fenced-in area of the complex's parking lot. She said the bin did not come from the apartments. Medical examiner staff removed the trash bin believed to contain the body shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday. As the sun set detectives turned to spot lights to brighten the commercial trash container. One by one bags of trash were carefully removed by investigators.
The apartment manager helped detectives conduct a head count to make sure no one who lived in the complex was missing Tuesday night.
"She's been coming through and helping the Major Case [Squad] come through ... just going 'this person's a guy, this is a girl or this is so and so', making sure everyone is accounted for in the building at least," said resident, Martin Austin.
He also had a friendly reprimand for his neighbor, Judi Green.
"Next time, leave a note," he told her.
Green's neighbors had been wondering where she was since the discovery around 11:45 a.m. Residents figured the body had to have been left within 24 hours of it being found.
"The trash was just picked up Monday," said resident, Joe Jones.
He'd been making sure everyone he knew in the area was accounted for, especially his two boys.
"Everybody, everybody," Jones said. "This morning at 9 a.m., my wife was out there putting them on the bus, just thinking that was out there right behind them, that's hard to believe."
"We have a four year old," Austin said. "I can just imagine me taking our 4 year old over to throw the trash away and him finding a body, you know, how do explain to a 4 year old. It's Halloween?"
Adding to the fears, residents kept hearing grisly details about condition of the body; making them even more scared. The Major Case Squad asked Fox 2 not to release such details Tuesday, for fear it could jeopardize the investigation. Though a source said it was an adult's body, investigators would not say for certain that it was a woman's body.
About the only relief came when Judi Green returned home. It turned out she'd been in Washington, MO, for a couple of days.
"She was gone all day and she's the exact size they were talking about," Jones said. "Now she's here. So it's good to know she's here."
"When I came home everybody came and gave me a hug and said, 'next time give us a call and let me know where you're going'," Green said. "I live by myself. It's like, 'next time Judi tell me where you're going'."
The Major Case Squad released no information Tuesday night, except to confirm that a team of investigators was on the case and that the investigation was in its early stages. There was no word from the Major Case Squad on an identification of the body; no word on how the person died, or who might have killed them. The Major Case Squad did not release a phone number for a public tip line.
