By:Jerry Burke
Police identified the man as Oscar Orea of Queens Village. He was last seen leaving his father's bodega, Orea's Produce and Grocery, at 7 p.m. Monday night, Jan. 17. The store is only about 100 yards and just around the block from where Orea's body was found, legs protruding from underneath the car, at 7:16 a.m. Tuesday morning by a passerby, according to police, who called 911.
Detective Lt. Dennis Farrell of the Homicide Squad said that Orea's family called to report him missing only moments before the 911 call. Farrell said that Orea's body was clothed in an unzipped jacket, a red soccer jersey, dark jeans and a single sock on his right foot, leading police to believe he might have been suffering from hypothermic dementia. "It's not uncommon to remove clothes or seek relief from pain in an unusual manner," said Farrell, explaining how some people react to hypothermia. "And that's what appeared to have happened here."
Farrell said police still don't know how or why Orea ended up under the car, a dark Ford Taurus registered to one of the occupants of a white three-story home on Elmont Road.
Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, a police spokesman, said that one of the people living in the home heard "a disturbance" in an alley separating the home from the line of stores along Hempstead Turnpike, where Orea's father's business is located. "At about 9 p.m. Monday, they heard what they thought was scuffling in that alleyway," said Smith.
After the medical examiner performed a preliminary autopsy on Jan. 20, Smith said there did not appear to be any signs of foul play, or obvious signs of injury other than slight bruises. He said the body was ice-cold from being outside in the sub-freezing temperatures Monday night, which reached the single digits.
Orea's father, who declined to give his name to reporters at the scene, ran around the block as police were lifting the car to examine the body more carefully. "He's a good person, my son. I don't know what happened," he was quoted as saying by the New York Post. "I thought he was out with friends." He declined to comment further.
Smith said detectives do not believe Orea's death was the result of a traffic incident involving the car.
Comments about this story? JBurke@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
