MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police are investigating after a pregnant woman was found dead Wednesday morning in southwest Miami-Dade County.
Miami-Dade police Detective Angel Rodriguez said the woman was found dead on Southwest 282nd Street shortly before 8:30 a.m.
A view from Sky 10 showed a yellow tarp covering the body, which was laying on top of a picnic table at a park in the residential neighborhood.
Relatives said Kerica Nelson, 21, was seven months pregnant and looking forward to the birth of her third child, a baby boy.
Nelson's younger sister and roommate said she last saw her sister early Wednesday morning.
"Usually when she leaves, she tells us when she was like leaving, but she didn't tell us she was leaving last night," Amaya Harris said. "Last time I saw her was 2 o'clock in the morning when she brought our food and she left."
Nelson's body was discovered about 8:30 a.m. in the same Verde Gardens apartment complex where she lived.
"I heard the screaming and we ran over -- me and a few other neighbors -- and that's when we discovered she was dead, lifeless, and she had barely any clothes on," Cellita Ceran said. "Her clothes were just removed or barely not there, so we covered her up and started to call the police."
Homicide detectives arrived and roped off the entire area, trying to figure out what led up to the young mother's death.
"It was at the time of the morning where all of our kids were walking to school and going to school," Ceran said.
"That's not something you see everyday. It's scary," Timnikka Drayton, who stayed home from school Wednesday, said.
Nelson's family members told Local 10 News reporter Terrell Forney they don't know how Nelson died.
They said she leaves behind a son and daughter, who are just 1 and 2 years old.
"That's somebody's child and somebody's mother and it's just heartbreaking," neighbor Deborah Drayton said.
"I don't know how you could do that," Harris said. "I don't know how somebody could do that or live with yourself knowing you did that."
Anyone with further information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.