Head found in Hempstead near location of severed arm

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (WABC) -- A badly decomposed human head has been found in Hempstead, Long Island.

The Nassau County Homicide Squad responded to Boylston Street after the gruesome discovery around 5 p.m. Thursday.

"I kept smelling the stench but we thought it was a dead animal," said Jonathan Grier, a witness.

Jonathan Grier says he first got a whiff of the foul smell about a week ago.

But he was honestly too creeped out to check the black bag sitting in the front yard of his Boylston Street home.

"I just didn't go look for it because I know they were looking for body parts around here," Grier said.

Thursday afternoon a neighbor walked by the Hempstead home, but couldn't keep walking.

That person and another man opened up the bag and found a human head inside.

"This is not the norm for this area, of course it's shocking, we believe at this point that whoever committed this crimes unfortunately choose the Village of Hempstead to dispose of these body parts," said Waylyn Hobbs, the Hempstead Deputy Mayor.

Deputy Mayor Waylyn Hobbs says it looked like a badly decomposed female head.

But Suffolk County Police are not sure if it's 27-year-old Chinelle Brown.

The Brownsville, Brooklyn woman disappeared two weeks ago.

Sources say that the body parts found scattered in Nassau and Suffolk Counties last week are likely the remains of this mother of four, but investigators are waiting for confirmation from the Medical Examiner's Office.

Residents wonder who could have committed such a crime.

"This is outrageous. This is outrageous," Grier said, "It's gruesome and it's sad. It's sad that people would do something like that and feel no malice behind it."

Brown was from Guyana and she worked in retail.

So far, investigators have not officially said if these cases are related.