Neighbors mistake corpse for Halloween display

Residents at a California building failed to alert police to the body of their dead neighbor because they thought it was a Halloween display

Residents at a California apartment building failed to alert police to the body of their dead neighbor because they thought it was a Halloween display, local media reported Saturday.

The decomposing body of Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed, 75, had lain in plain view of neighbors, slumped over a balcony chair, for at least three days before police were called to the Marina Del Rey building on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Zayed had a single gunshot wound to one eye, and had apparently been dead since Monday.

Neighbors told a reporter with RMG News that they noticed the body on Monday "but didn't bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy."

An official with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper that Zayed's death was "an apparent suicide," but no further details were available.

Halloween, which falls annually on October 31, and is often celebrated in the United States with elaborate displays outside houses featuring carved pumpkins, fake insects and gory decorations.