Police find woman’s body inside trunk of abandoned car in South Ozone Park

Authorities discovered a woman’s body inside the trunk of a car parked in South Ozone Park Wednesday morning.

The woman, believed to be 26-year-old Destini Smothers, was found inside a black Toyota Camry, parked outside of 149-57 Lefferts Blvd., around 9:51 a.m. on Wednesday, March 10.

Destini Smothers, who went missing in Woodside in November 2020. (Photo courtesy of the NYPD)

A tow truck operator discovered the body after they had come to move the abandoned car, which didn’t have any license plates, according to the NYPD.

Officers from the 106th Precinct cordoned off the residential block as the investigation began.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz arrived at the crime scene around mid-day on Wednesday.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz arrives at the scene where a woman’s body was found in the trunk of a car in South Ozone Park on March 10, 2021. (Photo by Lloyd Mitchell)

Smothers, who was from Troy, New York, went missing in November 2020. She was last seen at Bowlero, a bowling alley in Woodside, according to the NYPD.

Several of Smothers’ family members and friends arrived at an NYPD press conference on the case at 1:30 p.m., on Wednesday.