NYPD investigates suspicious death after body found hanging in Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park

Cops are investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body was found slashed with cut marks and hanging in a wooded section of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, authorities said Thursday.

Officers called to Bartow Circle, a roundabout linking drivers to the Hutchinson River Parkway and the popular Orchard Beach, found the 43-year-old man hanging from a tree about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. His name was not immediately released.

The man also suffered several cuts to his left forearm, neck and stomach, a police source with knowledge of the case said. A 9-mm bullet was also found near the scene.

Police spent Wednesday afternoon and evening looking for evidence. At one point after dusk, cops called for portable lights to be put up so they could continue investigating, officials said.

When reached, the man’s roommate told police he had received a text from him earlier, claiming that he had stabbed himself, the source said.

An NYPD spokesman said the city’s Medical Examiner’s office will need to do an autopsy to find out exactly how the man died.

As of Thursday, the case hasn’t been declared a homicide, cops said. No arrests have been made.

The gruesome discovery was made just a short distance from where the execution-style murders of a young man and woman from the Lower East Side took place two years ago.

On May 16, 2022, first responders were called to a car on fire outside the Split Rock Golf Course in Pelham Bay, about a quarter mile from Bartow Circle.

When cops arrived on the scene, they found the burned remains of Nikki Huang, 23, and Jesse Parrilla, 22, who were both shot in the head following an eight-hour explosion of violence between the long-feuding Up the Hill and Down the Hill gangs on the Lower East Side, according to police.

Four people have been arrested for the double killing. A fifth suspect, 34-year-old Steven Santiago, remains on the lam.

Anyone with information about Wednesday’s death is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.