Human remains were found inside Van Cortlandt Park on Friday, Dec. 12, according to the NYPD.

 

Police said they received a 911 call at around 11.30 a.m. on Friday for a report of human remains found near the Major Deegan Expressway and Van Cortlandt Park. A police spokesperson said, “When the officer got to the scene, he observed what appeared to be human remains in a wooded area.” Police said the investigation is ongoing.

A police vehicle with lights activated was seen blocking the entrance to a wooded area of the Park off Jerome Avenue close to the public bathrooms and Mosholu Gold Course entrance, opposite Woodlawn Cemetery, just north of Norwood in the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 13.

 

The scene in Van Cortlandt Park  close to Jerome Avenue north of Norwood opposite Woodlawn Cemetery on 12/13/25, a day after skeletal remains were found inside the park in the same general area. Video by Síle Moloney

It’s an area of the park that is also close to Exit 13 off the Major Deegan Expressway and the Allen Shandler Recreation Area.

 

Police later confirmed to Norwood News that the site of the discovery of the remains was close to East 233rd Street and Exit 13.

 

Some flashing lights, possibly from police and vehicles belonging to the Office of the City’s Medical Examiner, though this could not be made out, were seen further inside the wooded area from the blocked off Jerome Avenue entrance in the early hours of Sunday morning.

 

Citing a police source in relation to the incident, the New York Daily News reported Friday night that “archeologists hunting for relics from the Revolutionary War discovered human remains” in the park on Friday.

 

Norwood News asked the NYPD press office if it could corroborate this information. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

There was nobody in the immediate vicinity of the discovery at the time we visited the site in the early hours of Sunday morning to ask if they knew anything about the remains.

 

Norwood News contacted the Office of the City’s Medical Examiner to ask for more information on the cause of death, if known, and how long the remains were at the location, if known. We did not receive an immediate response. We reached out again in May 2026 and will share any feedback we receive.

 

While the cause of death is to still to be determined, as reported, City officials had been warning New Yorkers of freezing temperatures in recent days and had encouraged anyone who saw an undomiciled person outside to call 311 to get them to shelter.

 

Meanwhile, also in the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 13, FDNY responded to a burning car off the Major Deegan Expressway at Van Cortlandt Park South.

 

When Norwood News visited the wooded area later on Saturday, Dec. 13, the remains of police tape were seen around various poles in an area of the park fairly close but not directly adjacent to Jerome Avenue. It appears to be an area of the park where people may hang out as a mattress, a shoe, other pieces of clothing, a beer can, a beer bottle and possibly the remains of a camp fire were seen.

 

In the same general area were some rock and tree markings.

As reported, a man was found dead in Van Cortlandt Park on the Major Deegan Expressway in early September 2025 with trauma to the head and body after a hit & run incident.

 

In September 2024, another man was found dead in Van Cortlandt Park and police were later seen investigating in the Allen Shandler Recreation Area.

It was sadly not the first time bodies were found in the area. As also reported previously, the body of another man was discovered inside Van Cortlandt Park also in the area near Mosholu Golf Course on Nov. 24, 2020. At the time, police said the man’s death did not appear to be suspicious.

 

The body of another man was also discovered inside Van Cortlandt Park at Mosholu Parkway North at West Gun Hill Road on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022.

 

Temperatures in the week leading up to the discovery had fluctuated between 34 degrees and 54 degrees during the day, and between 28 degrees and 55 degrees at night-time. Dec. 12, 2022 was the coldest night during that week at 28 degrees.

 

In November 2023, the body of another deceased man was also found in Van Cortlandt Park near Woodlawn Heights.

 

Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.