Las Vegas police investigating body found in car trunk

Las Vegas police are investigating a badly decomposed body found inside a car trunk Wednesday morning in a south valley neighborhood.

A neighbor in the area of Rococo Court and Villeroy Avenue — near Cactus Avenue and Southern Highlands Parkway — called police about 10:20 a.m. to report a “possibly abandoned car” that had “been there for a few days,” Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Laura Meltzer said.

When officers arrived to check out the black, four-door sedan, they found the man’s body in the trunk. “It appears the person has been deceased for some time due to the level of decomposition,” police said.

Metro’s homicide unit documented the death because the nature of the scene was suspicious, but police are waiting for the coroner’s determination on cause and manner of death before they label and investigate the incident as a homicide.

The Clark County coroner’s office will name the man found dead once his family has been notified.

Anyone with information about exactly when the sedan first showed up in the neighborhood — or anyone with surveillance footage that may show who was driving — is asked to call Metro at 702-828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find @rachelacrosby on Twitter.