The young woman found naked in a duffel bag and dumped under railroad tracks in East Harlem was a homeless drug addict known in the neighborhood as “sweetie,” a local drug counselor told The Post.
Madelyn Sosa, a recovering addict who now works with the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, said she saw the tragic woman just hours before her body was found dumped under Metro-North tracks at 125th Street and Park Avenue around 7 p.m. Monday.
“I called her ‘Sweetie,’” Sosa, 50, said Tuesday. “I saw her [Monday] morning and she was fine when I saw her. But as the day progressed, I heard that she was heavily sedated.
“She’s smoke K2, do heroin, smoke crack, do the pills,” she said. “The lifestyle of the streets: Whatever is available.”
Sosa said she never knew “Sweetie’s” real name, but said she typically slept in Marcus Garvey Park or in the trash-strewn area under the commuter railroad tracks, not far from where she was found.
A neighborhood worker was clearing debris from the area — a troubled spot where locals said homeless vagrants would congregate and drug use was common — when he made the grisly discovery, residents and merchants on the block said.
Police converged on the scene and found the woman naked inside a garbage bag, which was stuffed inside the duffle back and left under the elevated tracks.
Cops are investigating and waiting for a medical examiner’s determination on the cause of death.
Sosa, who has been in recovery for eight years, said she would bring the dead woman clothes from her home, as well as blankets and food, and tried to get her into her treatment program — to no avail.
“She’d say, ‘One day, one day,’” Sosa said. “And now she doesn’t have that day.
“My heart is saddened,” she added. “In the life of addiction, if is expected if you don’t seek help, if you stay in the streets — in the game, as they put it, long enough — it’s like dancing with the devil. He’s going to come knocking on your door.”
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