Houston police are investigating how a dead body wound up in the backseat of one of its patrol cars over the weekend, officials said Sunday.
Police discovered the corpse about 2:30 p.m. Saturday in a police cruiser that had been parked outside a city-run drug and alcohol treatment center along Chenevert Street next to Highway 59 northeast of downtown Houston, they said in a social media post.
"An officer with our Mental Health Division went to his patrol vehicle to begin his shift and discovered a deceased male in the back seat," the Houston Police Department said in a statement.
Police did not say whether the vehicle was unlocked. A spokesperson said the man's identity is unknown and police are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine an official cause of death.
"It seems like he was a homeless man seeking shelter from the weather," Erika Rameriz, a police spokesperson, told ABC News.
Police said given the usage of the vehicle, it is possible that the man was inside the car for several days before being discovered by the officer coming on duty to use it.
There were no obvious signs of trauma on the body, and the man was never in custody, police said. And a storm front in the Houston area sent temperatures into the upper 30s on Saturday afternoon.
The investigation remains ongoing.
