\New York City housing workers found a heavy bag in a basement room and opened it to discover a woman’s dismembered body around 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the Borinquen Plaza public-housing complex in Williamsburg, authorities said. Police on Monday identified the victim as Michelle Montgomery, 39, and said the investigation is ongoing.
The discovery jolted residents of 330 Bushwick Ave., where investigators taped off a compactor and utility area and canvassed the building for security video and witnesses. Officials said the Office of Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death. Detectives have not announced any arrests or a motive. Relatives described Montgomery as a mother of four and said they are waiting on the medical examiner’s findings. The case has renewed long-running concerns among tenants about basement access and building security, even as officials cautioned that key facts—including where the killing occurred—remain under review.
According to police, a janitor and other New York City Housing Authority workers noticed a bag that felt unusually heavy while working in the lower level on Sunday and looked inside. They called 911, and responding officers found human remains in pieces inside the plastic bag in a compactor-adjacent room. Crime-scene technicians photographed the area and removed several large evidence bags by midafternoon. “It was too heavy to be regular trash,” a building employee told local TV as neighbors gathered behind police tape and watched detectives go door to door for most of the day.
On Monday, police released the victim’s name as Michelle Montgomery and confirmed her age as 39. Family members told reporters she had four children and lived elsewhere in Brooklyn. Authorities have not said whether Montgomery had any connection to the Borinquen Plaza complex. Investigators said the medical examiner will make the final determination on how and when she died. As of Tuesday, police had not identified a suspect and did not publicly link the case to any other incidents. Detectives collected surveillance footage from entrances and elevators and took statements from maintenance staff who had access to the basement areas, according to officials at the scene.
Borinquen Plaza, a New York City Housing Authority development in Williamsburg, includes multiple mid-rise buildings along Bushwick Avenue. Residents said the basement utility corridors are typically restricted to staff, though tenants sometimes pass workers near the compactor rooms. Some neighbors voiced frustration about unsecured doors and frequent nonresidents in common areas, complaints that have surfaced in prior tenant meetings and local coverage unrelated to this case. Police have not addressed those concerns directly, noting only that the building’s lower level remained closed while evidence teams processed the scene and that investigators were pursuing standard leads drawn from access logs and video where available.
Detectives said early steps include establishing a precise timeline for Montgomery’s last known movements, comparing statements from relatives and friends with any camera footage, and searching for transport or discard points tied to the bag. The medical examiner’s autopsy—expected early this week—will inform whether the case is classified as a homicide and may narrow the window of death. If evidence warrants, police could release still images from surveillance or seek judicial warrants for digital records. Any later court filings would go to Brooklyn Criminal Court, while public-records requests for autopsy findings typically route through the city’s medical examiner once the investigative phase allows.
Tenants described a quiet but tense scene Sunday. “We saw officers rushing in and then the tape went up fast,” said a resident who lives two floors above the basement and asked not to be named. Another neighbor, returning from church, said she watched housing workers point toward a silver maintenance door before officers cleared the hallway. By evening, the hallway lights remained on and a patrol car idled near the entrance as detectives finished interviews. “Everyone’s shaken,” said a man who has lived in the building for eight years. “You don’t expect to hear something like this coming from downstairs.”
By Tuesday afternoon, police said the medical examiner’s work was still underway and that detectives would provide updates when there is confirmation on cause of death or any arrest. The building’s basement remained restricted to staff while evidence processing continued.
Author note: Last updated February 3, 2026.