Body Parts Dumped in Trash in Quiet New Jersey Neighborhood

LINDEN, N.J. (CBS/AP) A quiet, tree-lined New Jersey neighborhood was turned upside-down Monday morning, after a sanitation worker discovered dismembered human bodies stuffed in garbage bags. Apparently, the bags had been sitting on the residential street corner in Linden since at least Thursday.

Carol Thomas Garretson, a resident of the neighborhood, paid very little attention to the two garbage bags, assuming that they just had been illegally dumped, reports WCBS. However, they became hard to ignore once swarms of flies began circling around the bags over the holiday weekend.

Once Garretson noticed the flies, she notified the public works department, who made the gruesome discovery, according to WCBS.

Autopsies have identified the male and female remains, but The Union County Prosecutor's Office is withholding the names until family members can be notified. The male victim is Hispanic and between the ages of 30-35 while information regarding the female is still unknown.

Residents of the area don't believe that the victims were murdered in their quiet New Jersey city, a suburb of New York City. Investigators also agree that it's unlikely, reports WCBS.

"It's a little unusual for someone to, I think, murder and dismember someone and leave them in the general area where the crime occurred. That's not to say that it didn't happen that way. But we're looking into all possibilities," said Union County prosecutor Theodore Romankow.