Edmonton homicide detectives are investigating after a man’s body was dug up from under a garage in north Edmonton on Friday.

Police said they received information this past week that a body may have been buried in the floor of the residential garage near 118 Avenue and 96 Street.

Edmonton Police Service homicide detectives are investigating after a man’s body was dug up from under a garage near 118 Avenue and 96 Street in north Edmonton. September 30, 2017. Julia Wong, Global News

A forensic examination was carried out this past week at the garage of the home in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood, which police said was known to them.

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Neighbours, who did not want to be identified, told Global News there were often lots of people coming and going from the house. They said it was “troublesome” and “problematic.”

They also said the discovery of the body does not scare them, adding it could happen anywhere.

The home was built in 1944, according to the City of Edmonton, and police said the garage was aging and the floor broken up.

“It’s such an old garage, that the cement was either broken up or was breaking up, was coming apart,” explained Edmonton Police Service spokesman Scott Pattison. Tweet This

“And so they excavated that, brought in a tractor or whatever they use to pull up that particular cement, and then they would have dug down and to the area they suspected.”

Edmonton Police Service homicide detectives are investigating after a man’s body was dug up from under a garage near 118 Avenue and 96 Street in north Edmonton. September 30, 2017. Julia Wong, Global News

Police recovered the remains of an unidentified man about seven feet down in the ground.

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“They took the concrete off, took the dirt and the body was discovered,” Pattison said. “The medical examiner, when they were on scene yesterday, was able to determine that it was a male.”

While the garage itself is quite old, forensic investigators believe the body was buried in the garage within the last year.

An autopsy will be done on Monday to figure out who the man is and how he died.

Police said the disposal of the body is a criminal act, but will have to wait until the autopsy is done to see if the death was a crime as well.

“I mean, typically we expect to find cars and lawn mowers and tools in the garage, not the deceased remains of a human being,” Pattison said. Tweet This

Police are asking anyone who may know anything about the death to speak to them.

“We’re hoping for more witnesses to come by, and again it may not be – as in many investigations – it may not be somebody who’s there that day, when this particular no incident occurred or was aware of what actually actually happened,” Pattison said.

“It may be a tip that’s brought in from the neighbourhood, of familiarity of people that have been coming back and forth from that particular address, familiarity that may help investigators progress the investigation.”

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Edmonton Police Service homicide detectives are investigating after a man’s body was dug up from under a garage near 118 Avenue and 96 Street in north Edmonton. September 30, 2017. Julia Wong, Global News