A home in Cleveland’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood — where four badly decomposed bodies were discovered on Saturday — has been a nuisance property for several years, said Cleveland City Council member Kevin Bishop.
The boarded up property on E. 144th Street is in Ward 2, which Bishop represents. Police are still investigating how the four people died and officials are still trying to identify the bodies, Bishop said.
“We have been getting complaints on the house, with prostitution and folks going in and out of vacant structures, so I am going to push for that home to be torn down and we are going to push for others to be torn down also to try to create a safest environment as possible,” he said.
The 3600 block of E. 144th St. has been plagued with drug dealers, users and homeless people for many years, Bishop said.
“We have hit another low on that street,” he said. “These people that are struggling out here… It is sad to see them lose their lives to drug addiction.”
Police reported a gun was found in the home but the official police report has not released and details of the incident have not been shared with the public.
It is not known if the people died in the home, or died somewhere else and were brought to the house later, Bishop said.
One neighbor who lives a few doors down from the abandoned duplex said she noticed a foul smell in the air Thursday, but thought it was a dead animal. Another area resident, who did not want to be identified, said there have been other incidents in Cleveland where bodies were discovered in abandoned structures, so although this one is sad, it’s also not surprising, he said.
“It’s dangerous. I got grandkids around here. It’s sad. They need to tear down these abandoned houses,” he said.
The building is owned by Ohio Erie Properties. Former council member John Barnes, Sr. is an investor in the company. Barnes did not wish to comment when contacted by ideastream. County records show there are about $33,000 in delinquent taxes on the home.
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