Bronx - A decomposed body that was found in the trunk of a stolen car in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx was discovered during a routine auto crime patrol by Bronx District Attorney Detective Investigators.

Detective Investigators Lawrence Hinrichs and Anthony Rambazis were riding along Edison Avenue using a high tech electronic device to search for cars that had been reported stolen.

When they scanned the license plates of a  Lincoln Town Car parked in front of 634 Edison Avenue they triggered an alert from a  New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Data Bank. 

According to the alert the plates were registered to a car that had been reported stolen in Washington Heights in Manhattan on October 15, 2007.  The license plates were also linked to a report of a ‘missing person’ that had been filed with the NYPD.

Hinrichs and Rambazis approached the vehicle, noticed a foul odor and notified the 45th precinct.  NYPD Emergency Services Unit personnel forced open the trunk of the car and found a man’s body in a duffle bag.

The routine patrol that led to the grisly discovery was part of an ongoing initiative by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to combat auto crime.  Funding for the program was made possible in the form of a $300,000 grant from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.  Approximately $25,000 of the grant was used to purchase a state of the art license plate reader, a Remington Mobile Plate Hunter 900, which was used on patrol for the first time yesterday when the body was found. 

Prior to purchasing this device, the DA’s auto crime initiative relied on the use of an earlier generation license plate reader on loan from the National Insurance Crime Bureau.  The highly successful initiative, conducted through the Arson/Auto/Economic Crime Bureau of the Investigations Division, resulted in the recovery of 188 stolen vehicles and the arrests of 78 individuals between October 2006 and December 2007.