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Police investigate after discovery of body in E. Boston

E-mail|Link December 24, 2009 04:35 PM

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

Boston Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in a large blue bag in East Boston Wednesday night.

Police are still trying to figure out the identity of the woman, who appears to be the victim of a homicide. The exact cause of death was not immediately available, but police expected autopsy results today.

The body of the woman, who appeared to have been in her 30s, was discovered at about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday by a neighbor on Princeton Street, a quiet, residential street of well-kept single family homes and three-decker houses decorated with Christmas wreathes and inflatable Santas.

The body had been left in a small alley next to 89 Princeton, a maroon three-decker house. Her wrists had been bound and there was a tattoo of a dragon on her neck, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case.

A man who only identified himself as Frank and lives next door to the alley said he saw the bag in the alleyway at about 5:30 p.m. but did not think there was anything strange about it until the police arrived about two hours later.

Another neighbor, who identified himself as Pinky Senior, 74, said the bag had been lying in the alleyway, about three feet from the sidewalk all morning and all afternoon. He said he assumed it was trash until detectives arrived at his door.

"Anything happens now," he said.

Rita Elliott, 43, who lives across the street from the scene said she was shocked to learn of the body.

"There is no excitement here," she said. "It is peaceful. We've only been here three years and it's a quiet street ... Scary. Really scary."