FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police in Fort Lauderdale are investigating the discovery of a decomposing body outside a trash bin in the 2700 block of Southwest Sixth Drive.

Residents said they had noticed a foul odor in their neighborhood for several weeks. But it wasn't until someone searched the area that the source of the smell was found.

Lorraine Bogges told Local 10's Janine Stanwood that she was attempting to clean out the trash left on the ground outside the trash bin.

"When I started cleaning it, there was a big blue tarp. I pulled it out and a skull fell out. I thought, 'I found a human,'" she said.

Bogges also reported finding black, braided hair near the remains of the head.

Police could not confirm the gender nor the age of the person, but Boggess' friend, Linda Pendegrass, said she believed it was her missing neice.

"Ever since June 29, we haven't seen her, we haven't heard from her. The first thing that popped in my mind, I thought it was my niece," she said.

As of Tuesday night, police were not connecting the woman's disappearance with the investigation of the decomposing body.

But Pendegrass said that in her gut she knows there could be a connection, even though she did not want to believe it.

"I asked the Lord, 'Please, don't let it be her,'" she said.