Marcel Reardon, 46, named as victim of Brazil Street homicide
CBC News | Posted: May 10, 2016 10:52 AM | Last Updated: May 11, 2016
Marcel Reardon, 46, was named Tuesday by police as the man whose body was found near an apartment building on Brazil Street in St. John's on Monday.
An autopsy was performed earlier Tuesday and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is now calling it a homicide.
The RNC said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon that no arrests have yet been made in their investigation.
They're asking anyone with information to contact their offices.
Reardon had a minor criminal record, and more allegations against him of mischief and trespassing with court dates set for May and June.
Tributes are coming in online for the man, and family and friends posting on Facebook Tuesday said he had links to Bell Island.
A grim discovery
Reardon's body was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning by a resident of an apartment complex in St. John's
Jack Huffman, the superintendent of the Harbour View Apartments at 91 Brazil St., said a tenant called him about someone under the back stairwell of the building.
The two men went down together to investigate, and they were shocked by what they found.
"I didn't know whether it was just a homeless person sleeping or what the situation was, so him and I went out and the scene was quite gruesome. Immediately I called 911," Huffman told CBC's St. John's Morning Show Tuesday.
"I am not a professional, that's up to police, but it really looked like he was clubbed to death."
Police have not said whether Reardon lived in the Brazil Street building, but Huffman added he got a glimpse of the man's face when paramedics arrived, and does not believe he was a tenant.
"It wasn't very pleasant," he said.
'Never seen anything like this'
Tenants of the building told CBC News Monday they knew very little about what had happened. Huffman said people living in the 60-unit building are unsettled.
"There are really great tenants in the building and they are just obviously disturbed," he said.
Huffman added the RNC remain at the taped-off scene Tuesday, with an officer standing at the entrance of the building's parking lot checking identification.
The experience was taxing on Huffman, who said he's used to the unexpected happening on the job.
"When the adrenaline wore off yesterday it was ... I was quite tired," he said.
"I've seen dead bodies, but I've never seen anything like this."