Toddler finds burned body in St. Paul alley

A toddler walking with his mother in a St. Paul alley Wednesday morning discovered a body burned so badly that authorities had trouble determining the victim's age, identity or gender.

But a woman who visited the scene said she feared the body was her missing brother, Quincy Antwain Blue, 30, of Brooklyn Park.

She was right.

Melissa Blue said she filed a missing person's report on her brother, who had not been seen since Monday. Hearing news that a body had been found in the alley near Westminster Street and E. Geranium Avenue in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, she visited the scene in search of answers.

St. Paul police spokesman Andy Skoogman said authorities used fingerprints to identify Quincy Blue and are investigating his death as a homicide. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office has not determined a cause of death.

Authorities hoped results of an autopsy conducted by the medical examiner would help determine how long the body had been in the alley and how the person died, said Sgt. John Keating, a police department spokesman.

After discovering the body lying among trees and overgrown weeds and brush about 8:30 a.m., the mother and son told neighbor Kelley Stevens, who called police to the scene, just 15 feet from her back yard.

Stevens, who has lived on Westminster Street for 15 years, said her three cocker spaniels started barking uncontrollably Monday afternoon after a pickup truck went down the alley. She thought they were barking at the wild turkeys that frequent the alley but wonders if they were responding to the presence of the body.

"It makes me nervous," Stevens said. "I might have to sell the house."

Shirley Kennell was concerned, too. She's lived on the 1100 block of Westminster for only a year, but now says she doesn't feel safe.

"I've seen stuff like this on the news, but this is real life right in my back yard," the 61-year-old said. "This is really terrible. It was peaceful around here until today."

Anybody with information is asked to call St. Paul police at 651-291-1111.