US men take vehicle with 'free car' sign, find body in the boot

The body was found in the car boot. Photo / 123RF

Two men in the US thought they had stumbled upon a great deal when they found a car on the side of the road with a "free car" sign on it, but there was a catch.

And it was decomposing in the boot.

The grim tale played out in the state of Mississippi when two men noticed the vehicle parked near a junkyard in Byram, on the outskirts of the city of Jackson.

The sign indicated they could take the car and the keys were inside, so the men took the opportunity.

They drove the car to nearby Copiah County, where they parked it at a family's member's home before discovering there was a man's corpse inside.

Coroner Ellis Stuart revealed that the man's body had been inside the car for several days.

The body, found naked, was later identified as 34-year-old Anthony Mccrillis.

"He was identified through his tattoos and confirmed through his immediate family of his identity," Byram Police Chief David Errington said.

Errington said that Mccrillis' vehicle had been seen in the local area recently and police had not yet determined where Mccillis died.

Errington added that Mccrillis was seen alive just days ago.

"We do know that our victim was alive at 9pm on Friday night," he told WLBT News. "He was seen on a home surveillance video."

He said an officer later spotted Mccrillis' car parked on the side of the road at 9.30am on Saturday.

He revealed that the body had no obvious signs of trauma and that the next steps were to do a full autopsy and process the car for evidence.