Fire crews at the scene this morning. (G.N.Miller)
The bodies of two bound men were discovered this morning in Queens after firefighters put out a large brush fire, authorities said.
The massive blaze ignited at around 4:15 a.m. near 159th Avenue and 78th Street in Howard Beach, and within an hour it was elevated to a two-alarm fire, FDNY officials said.
Once the blaze was under control, firefighters found the two fully-clothed, tied-up victims lying face down in Spring Creek Park, a marshy area off the Belt Parkway near Cross Bay Boulevard, cops said.
“My guess is that they [the bodies] weren’t there very long because the fire was started, apparently, to cover up the crime,” Queen DA Richard Brown said.
“We’re used to fires around here, this is just an added little twist,” said neighbor Michael Silver, 42.
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“Cops said they found a couple of bodies. It looked like [the suspect] dumped the bodies and lit them up.”
The fire marshal and police are investigating the cause of the blaze.
A neighbor, who sells security cameras for a living, had equipment pointed toward the blaze.
“We have cameras on our house, some of them face the field and cops are looking at them,” the neighbor said.
“The fire was off screen when it first started, then after a bit it grew and it was on camera. All I could see was fire.”
Additional reporting by David K. Li