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Authorities are investigating the death of a young woman whose naked body was found stuffed inside a green duffel bag beneath the Metro-North tracks in East Harlem. The woman, known only as “Sweetie”, was described by neighbors and a local counselor as a victim of the streets. 

She was a homeless addict whose life was marked by hardship and addiction.

Investigation into Victim of the Streets

The body was discovered around 7 p.m. Monday near 125th Street and Park Avenue, when a neighborhood worker clearing debris under the elevated tracks noticed the duffel bag and called police. Officers from the New York Police Department arrived to find the woman’s body inside a garbage bag that had been placed in a duffel bag and dumped on the sidewalk.

A woman who works in the neighborhood said police swarmed the area with K-9s after being tipped off.

Police have not yet determined a cause of death, pending an official report from the medical examiner, according to The New York Post.

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Remembered as “Sweetie”

Madelyn Sosa, a recovering addict and drug counselor with the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, said she recognized the deceased woman immediately.

“I called her ‘Sweetie,’” Sosa, 50, told The Post. “I saw her [Monday] morning and she was fine when I saw her. But as the day progressed, I heard that she was heavily sedated.”

Sosa said the woman often slept in Marcus Garvey Park or under the railroad tracks, not far from where her body was found. Despite Sosa’s efforts to help, Sweetie declined treatment.

“She’d say, ‘One day, one day,’” Sosa recalled sadly. “And now she doesn’t have that day.”

Life and Death as a Victim of the Streets

Locals said the area under the 125th Street Metro-North line is a known trouble spot where homeless individuals and drug users congregate. Sweetie, they said, was a familiar face — kind but caught in the cycle of addiction.

“She’d smoke K2, do heroin, smoke crack, do the pills,” Sosa explained. “The lifestyle of the streets: whatever is available.”

Sosa, who has been sober for eight years, said she often brought Sweetie food, clothes, and blankets, hoping she would one day enter recovery.

“My heart is saddened,” she said. “In the life of addiction, if you stay in the streets long enough — it’s like dancing with the devil. He’s going to come knocking on your door.”

The NYPD continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding Sweetie’s death, while the medical examiner works to determine how she died. Authorities have not released an identity beyond the nickname given by those who knew her. Sadly, the city mourns another anonymous victim of the streets.

Read more about the ongoing investigation at ABC7 New York and The New York Post.