Philadelphia authorities are investigating the murder of a 12-year-old boy who was found dead and wrapped in plastic inside a dumpster last week.
The victim was later identified as Hezekiah Bernard; his lifeless body was discovered in a dumpster at a Philadelphia Housing complex by a sanitation worker on August 23.
Investigators said that Bernard was shot in the head and that his head was wrapped in plastic and a blanket. The boy’s death appeared to have occurred 24 to 36 hours before the body was discovered.
“I thought he just wasn’t answering the phone, but I wind up finding out he was dead and they put him in a dumpster,” a friend of the slain boy said.
The murder of Bernard, who once was in the custody of the Department of Human Services, remained unsolved as of Friday evening.
