Woman's Body Found In A Barrel Left Curbside In NJ Identified

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ — A woman whose body was found in a container on a sleepy street in Ridgefield Park last week has been identified by the New York City Police Department, the department confirmed Friday.

Police have identified the victim as 42-year-old Nicole Flanagan, of the Bronx, who was last seen in the area of 95 Wall St., a luxury apartment building known as "95 Wall".

The Deputy Commissioner of Public Information's Office said the investigation is ongoing at this time, and no further details were provided.

However, the New York Post is reporting that law enforcement has identified a "person of interest," and that surveillance video captured the man greeting Flanagan outside the apartment building on Aug. 6.

The report says the man was also seen walking into the apartment building with a large plastic container, and later seen loading the same container into a U-Haul.

According to the report, sources say Flanagan's boyfriend described her job as a "high-end prostitute."

Ridgefield Park police discovered Flanagan's body stuffed in a container and left a Ridgefield Park curb on the morning of Aug. 13. Officers found the "large plastic container" in the area of Hobart Street and Teaneck Road.

Soon after, The Bergen County Major Crimes Unit and Ridgefield Park police began investigating the circumstances of the death and where the container came from, the prosecutor's office said. Read more: Body Left In Curbside Container In Bergen County: Prosecutor

Ridgefield Park is generally a quiet suburb, so the commotion created by the heavy police presence came as a shock to residents.

The "Ridgefield Park neighbors and friends" Facebook group is generally a place reserved for discussions about town politics, sports camps and general updates. But on Friday it became a place where news spread, history was shared and opinions on what had become of the town debated.

Two prevailing threads arose. One a discussion on town safety, and the other about past murders.

It should be noted that a cause of death has yet to be announced in this case, but looking back at past homicides could prove helpful in identifying how safe Ridgefield Park, a traditionally sleepy suburban community, remains to this day.

The Ridgefield Park Police have reported only six homicides to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program since 1986. One was reported that year, with the latest coming in 2010, meaning there have been no murders recorded in Ridgefield Park in the last 11 years.

One murder was also reported in 1988, two in 1989 and one in 1992, according to FBI and New Jersey State Police data.

But violent crimes, which include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, are relatively low in Ridgefield Park in general.

According to the FBI statistics, combined reports of violent and property crime have never cleared 24 in a single year since 1986, and only seven violent crimes were reported in 2019.
Of those seven crimes, six were cleared, the data shows.

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