From the outside of apartment 414 there are few clues to the man who lived there. In the window a visible home gym indicates he liked to work out. It's the most any of his neighbors knew of him.
One neighbor said, "He did always have smile on his face, but other than that I really didn't get a chance to know him."
But on Monday, neighbors learned a lot more, after the tenants living below the apartment were shocked by an unspeakable sight.
"One of the people staying downstairs say they seen blood leaking from their closet so I guess the guy was dead in the closet and the blood drained downstairs," a neighbor said.
Houston police say the man was found inside a bedroom closet. Blood was also found splattered throughout the apartment. Based on the condition of the body, police believe the man had been dead for several days.
One neighbor suspected something was wrong when he hadn't seen his neighbor's white Mazda.
He said, "It's just kind of weird that the car has been here since I've been here in October and now it's disappeared."
The apartment management told us they have hired more security for the complex and are working on a letter to send to tenants. Those tenants, in the meantime, remain fearful. They're worried that without knowing what actually happened, could it happen again?
"You know, I stay next door. So I had to stay up until 4:00 to convince myself to go to sleep next door to someone who was dead," one resident said.
Another said, "I had to move here and I can't wait to move out." The complex has relocated those neighboring tenants to a different apartment until their apartment is sanitized. The medical examiner is conducting an autopsy, trying to figure out how the victim died. They will also have to confirm his identity.
