Houston police are trying to figure out how a dead body ended up in the back seat of a shocked officer's squad car.
On Dec. 21, at about 2:30 p.m., a police officer with the Mental Health Division went to begin his shift and found a dead man in his backseat, police stated. The police do not know how the man got in the vehicle or his identity. The police cruiser was parked outside a city facility for drug and alcohol treatment center northeast of downtown Houston, police stated.
The person's identity and the cause of death is pending an investigation by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The investigation is ongoing.
ABC News reported that there were no signs of trauma on the body and that it was unknown if the patrol vehicle was locked.
"It seems like he was a homeless man seeking shelter from the weather," officer Erika Ramirez, a police spokesperson, told ABC News.
The TV station reported that a rainstorm came through the Houston area the afternoon of Dec. 21. Temperatures in the city were in the upper 50s that day.
Police do not know how long the many might have been deceased before being discovered, ABC news reported.
