Man accused of hiding body in apartment for weeks

SCRANTON, Pa. — A man was arrested after police said they found a decomposing body in his home in Pennsylvania.

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Investigators told WOLF that police received a tip on Feb. 3 that Paul Rowe, 44, had been keeping a man’s body inside of his Scranton apartment.

When officers went to the home, they met Rowe outside and asked him whether there was a body in his home. Rowe allegedly denied the allegation, telling officers he only had methamphetamine inside the apartment, WBRE reported.

Citing the drugs as probable cause, police obtained a search warrant and went into Rowe’s home. Inside, officers described a room that “smelled like a decomposing body,” WOLF reported. Under a tarp inside the room, police found the body of Nicholas Martin, 52. Investigators said the body had been decomposing for two to three weeks when it was found, according to WOLF.

Martin’s cause of death is unknown, WBRE reported.

Rowe was taken to the Lackawanna County Prison on charges of abuse of a corpse and possession of drug paraphernalia on $200,000 bail.