Police investigate ‘badly decomposed’ body found in Dayton garage as homicide

A badly decomposing body found under debris in the detached garage of a Burkhardt Avenue house on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, was later identified as 44-year-old CJ Pierce of Dayton, who was reported missing in July. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

A badly decomposing body found under debris in the detached garage of a Burkhardt Avenue house on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, was later identified as 44-year-old CJ Pierce of Dayton, who was reported missing in July. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

Dayton police are investigating a body found in a garage Thursday evening as a homicide and believe it could be connected to a July missing person’s case.

Officers responded to the 400 block of Burkhardt Avenue in east Dayton after a woman reported a bad smell coming from the detached garage.

When police arrived, they found a body in the garage, said Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns.

A badly decomposing body found under debris in the detached garage of a Burkhardt Avenue house on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, was later identified as 44-year-old CJ Pierce of Dayton, who was reported missing in July. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

icon to expand image

“The body was badly decomposed, but from the cause of death, it appears to be a homicide from the evidence at the scene,” Johns said. “We do believe it is associated with a missing person from back in July in east Dayton.”

The woman who called first responders is the girlfriend of the missing person, he said. Due to the state of the body, police are unable to make an official identification.

“When we have cases like this, it makes it more difficult to identify the body unfortunately,” Johns said. “We wish we could tell the family positively right now yes or no, but we just can’t do that.”

Investigators have leads in the case, which they are actively following, he said.

This is at least the second decomposing body found in Dayton this month.

Officers responded around 3 a.m. Aug. 2 to the first block of Maylan Drive in north Dayton after a Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy found a body in the basement of an apartment building while investigating a stolen vehicle, according to police.

Johns previously said that body “appeared to be there for quite some time.” He also said it appeared the building had been vacant since 2015. That body also has not been identified, and it’s not clear whether the person was an adult or juvenile, or male or female.

About the Author