Police in Texas said they discovered a dead body in the back of a patrol unit over the weekend
“An officer with our Mental Health Division went to his patrol vehicle to begin his shift and discovered a deceased male in the backseat,” The Houston Police Department said in a statement.
Police said they were initially unsure how the victim got into the officer’s Ford Explorer, but suspect he was seeking shelter from the weather. The discovery was made Saturday around 2:30 p.m. Houston temperatures dipped into the 40s last week, according to the National Weather Service.
Houston station KHOU said an officer with the Mental Health Division dropped off the unlocked vehicle Wednesday night after his shift ended, then found the body when he returned to work Saturday.
It’s not clear when the victim, believed to be homeless and in his forties, entered the SUV. The officer reportedly saw items inside the vehicle that didn’t belong to him before noticing a body stuck between the SUV’s backseat cage area and cargo hold.
The back of the vehicle can’t be unlocked from the inside. Police said the unidentified victim wasn’t in police custody. His cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.
