The death of a teenager found in a Queens park earlier this week has been deemed a homicide, police said on Friday.
Andy Peralta, 17, was found by someone hiking in Kissena Park, near 161st Street, in East Flushing on Tuesday. Peralta had trauma to his head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The teen was one of five bodies found over the course of three days this week, though the other four were discovered in city waters, according to cops.
The body of a man in his 30s was found in the Harlem River, near 135th Street, at about 10:45 a.m. Wednesday. Hours later, at about 4:20 p.m., the body of a woman in her 20s was pulled from the East River near Pier 16 in lower Manhattan.
Both were pronounced dead at the scenes and their identifications were pending, cops said.
On Tuesday, a body was found floating in the Hudson River near Battery Park at about 7:45 a.m. It was badly decomposed and could not immediately be identified, police said.
A fourth body, of a man in his 30s, was pulled from the water near the Mill Basin Bridge in Brooklyn at about 9:25 a.m. Monday, police said.
The medical examiner will determine the cause of death in the four remaining cases, and the investigations are ongoing.
The recent discoveries are likely because of warmer water temperatures, which cause bodies to float, the city’s former chief medical examiner, Dr. Michael Baden, told the New York Post.
With Lauren Cook
