Homicide investigation in Lanham after man found dead in backyard with trauma to upper body

A Greenbelt Police Officer was checking on his mother on Tuesday morning when he found the body of a man in her backyard.

Prince George's County police say the man had suffered trauma to his upper body, and they're now trying to determine why the man was there and who killed him.

The woman who lives in the home talked to FOX 5 - she says she heard nothing until her son woke her to say a man's body was in the backyard.

"Well he worked all night and so he came home and getting himself ready to get some rest and then when he opens the blinds and looks out in the backyard--and that's what he's greeted with," Mabel Keys said.

"I go to sleep. I don't go listening to what is happening in the community - I do get up sometimes and look around sometimes to see if the streets are quiet and all that but when you go to sleep you go to sleep," she said.

Within minutes, Keys' backyard was filled with Prince George's County police officers trying to determine who the man was and what had happened to him.

A source familiar with the investigation says that the man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, had been shot to death.

Investigators do not know, however, how he ended up in the yard.

Police say, based on an initial ID, the man did not live in the neighborhood and, throughout the night, no one called to report the sounds of gunshots.

At least two neighbors told police when detectives began knocking on the doors, they did hear a gunshot after 1 a.m.

At least two neighbors told police that when detectives began knocking on doors, they did hear a gunshot just after 1 a.m., including a man who lives right next door to where the body was found.

"Yeah we heard it-yes," Obioma Ibeawuchi said.

Three homeowners who live just a few doors down from where the body was found told police they had surveillance cameras recording at the time police said they were going to review the video to see if it would help.