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Manuel Ortega-Pimentel, 55, "ran into the path" of an NJ Transit train on Saturday and was killed, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said.
"During an attempt to locate next of kin for Ortega-Pimentel, a check of his last known address was conducted and the basement apartment was checked by a resident of the first floor," the prosecutor said.
Calo said the body of 25-year-old photographer Manuel Buri was found on the floor in the illegal basement unit, roughly a half-mile from where Ortega-Pimental was struck.
An autopsy showed that Buri "suffered multiple blunt force trauma to the head," Calo said, adding that investigation into his killing remained ongoing.
"It's totally murder-suicide," a high-ranking law enforcement official told Daily Voice. "We all know it."
Buri's body was found on the floor. He'd been beaten with a blunt object, authorities told Daily Voice.
"There was a lot of blood throughout the place," one responder said after city police found the body in the MacArthur Avenue apartment around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Nearly 6½ hours earlier, Ortega-Pimental stepped in front of an NJ Transit train near the Hobart Place grade crossing.
Ortega-Pimental was carrying an Ecuadoran passport, law enforcement authorities said.
"We haven't determined whether either or both were legally or illegally," one said.
Police investigating the suicide initially went to the MacArthur Avenue home after finding identification on Ortega-Pimental but were told by the landlord that he didn't live there, law enforcement sources told Daily Voice.
"Probably because it's an illegal apartment," one said.
The landlord later alerted police after finding the body, they said.
The prosecutor thanked the Garfield Police Department, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and New Jersey Transit Police for their assistance in the investigation.
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