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Decomposing Body Found In Everett Home After Neighbors Complain About Smell

EVERETT (CBS) -- Investigators are looking into an apparent murder in Everett.

Police were called to a multi-family home on Oakland Avenue Saturday after the landlord found a man dead in a second-floor apartment.

Everett body apartment
The exterior of an Everett apartment building where a body was found. (Photo credit: David Robichaud, WBZ-TV)

The landlord was asked to do a well-being check after neighbors had complained about a bad smell there for days.

"There was a really bad smell for a week in the whole house," a woman said.

That odor was coming from the second floor, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

"A body was removed from that apartment. It had been discovered An autopsy was performed by the office of the chief medical examiner yesterday, who discovered some traumatic injuries and ruled the death a homicide," DA Ryan said.

A relative told WBZ the victim is 65-year-old Frank Brescia. The Boston Globe did a profile on him just last January.

Frank Brescia
Frank Brescia. (Photo credit: Boston Globe)

Brescia, who struggled with addition and homelessness, became a painter. His pieces of art sometimes sold for over one thousand dollars. But some neighbors say he was still drinking heavily and partying in his second floor apartment

Brescia's body was in "an advanced state of decomposition," according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Authorities have not said how the man died.

"I thought it was a drug overdose. There's always different people in and out of there," neighbor Janet Maliawco said.

The DA would not release specifics of the investigation, which is ongoing, but the WBZ I-Team has learned that police are working on what they call "substantial leads."

In the meantime, residents feel like they're being kept in the dark.

"Was he shot? Was he stabbed? Don't know. Police don't tell us anything. Think they should tell us what's going on," Maliawco said.

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