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Prince George's County police charged a homeless man on Wednesday in the death of one of two unidentified people whose decomposing bodies police found Tuesday near an elementary school just outside of Hyattsville city limits.
Jose Saul Henriquez, 29, was arrested and charged with first and second degree murder in the death of one of the people whose bodies were found near Rosa Parks Elementary School, said Cpl. Erica Johnson, a spokeswoman for Prince George's County Police.
Henriquez is being held with no bond at the Department of Corrections in Upper Marlboro, Johnson said. She described Henriquez as homeless.
Police found the two bodies in the 6200 block of Ager Road, near the school, said Cpl. Clinton Copeland, a county police spokesman. A confidential source tipped police to the location of the bodies in an area with high brush, according to police.
"They actually had to have a machine to go back there and clear the brush area," Copeland added.
Copeland said he didn't know what time of day the bodies were found or the owner of the property.
Police won't be able to identify the bodies, know how long the bodies were outside or what caused the deaths until the state's medical examiner's office in Baltimore completes autopsies, Copeland said.
The bodies seem to be male, Copeland said. Police are checking the missing persons list, as they do anytime they discover unidentified bodies, he added.
The discovery of the bodies did not alter the school day at Rosa Parks Elementary because the discoveries were made off school grounds, school secretary Evelyn Recinos said Wednesday. Thursday is the last day of school for students in Prince George's public schools.
In January, paramedics found a dead 40-year-old homeless man in a wooded area in the 6300 block of Ager Road hours after he died. Officials reported that paramedics believed cold weather contributed to the man's death. He was sleeping in an ad-hoc wooded camp where many day-workers sleep, according to Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department officials.
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.