ISDP: The Merry Merry Month of May

The 13th of the month has rolled around once again and it’s time for the squeemish and easily offended to scroll for cover as FirstNerve presents the latest installment in Gothic Olfaction.

For sheer tabloid pathos, this Dallas Morning News headline was hard to beat:

Woman’s body found on Mother’s Day; son accused of murder

The story in a nutshell:

The family of Esther Hernandez, 43, reported her missing Friday after she had not been seen for several days. Her body was found Sunday in her home in the 6200 block of Wofford Drive after her husband smelled a foul odor.

The body of Mrs. Hernandez had apparently been concealed inside the house. An arrest warrant was issued for her son, who police believe has fled.

A day earlier in Pasadena, Texas, police officers discovered the body of a man in the trunk of his silver 2000 Volkswagen Jetta. Salvador Rojas had been missing since earlier in the week. Officers were called to the scene

after a resident in the apartment complex reported a foul smell coming from the car

Rojas’s hands were bound, and investigators say he

was allegedly involved in a financial scheme loaning money to Hispanic immigrants for outrageous fees and interests

 In Staten Island, New York on April 27 homicide detectives found a “mummified male body” in the basement of a boarded-up apartment unit. They figure it had been there for a year or more—long enough that the smell of decay had long since faded.

Reporter Doug Auer of the Staten Island Advance described the late night crime scene investigation:

Meanwhile, residents and neighbors gathered on their stoops to observe the commotion. 

“It’s always smelled down there,” said Carol Robles, 34, a resident of 20 Cedar. “It would come up through the radiator, in the drains.”

Another resident claimed to have called 311 last summer to report a foul odor.

We’ll file this one under “always trust your nose.”