Residents in a quiet residential area said yesterday they were stunned by news the body of a missing US teenager was discovered only yards from their homes.

One woman said the neighbourhood was “just a quiet place”.

The 54-year-old resident of Alexandra Road, Devonshire, who asked not to be named, said she had lived in her home for about eight years and had never seen such a high level of police activity.

The woman, who lives with her daughter and one-year-old granddaughter, was speaking after the body of 19-year-old Mark Dombroski was discovered in the dry moat at nearby Fort Prospect on Monday.

She added she was at work when Mr Dombroski’s body was found by search teams and police tape went up through her backyard.

The woman said she was at home asleep when Mr Dombroski was filmed by a CCTV camera on the road in the early hours of Sunday morning.

She said she kept an outside light on at night in her backyard, but did not hear or see anything unusual.

Another householder said he had just arrived home when the body was found.

The 26-year-old, who also asked not to be named, said that his sister had been playing with her three-year-old son when she heard shouting.

He added: “I had just pulled up in the driveway.”

The man said that he went to the fence at the rear of his building and could see searchers in the Fort Prospect dry moat, but did not see a body.

The man added a police officer ordered him to move away from the fence.

He said police tape went up around the back of his property along the fence line about 30 minutes later.

The man said he “kind of knew” what had happened.

He added: “Obviously I put two and two together.”

The man, who lives in the building with his mother, sister and her son, said he had been there for more than 20 years and had never seen people in the moat area.

He added: “I’ve never seen anyone go back there.”

Another resident said that she had not been home on Saturday night and had been in and out of her home on Sunday. The 59-year-old woman, who also requested anonymity, said she lived with her daughter and son. She added the neighbourhood was peaceful.

The woman said: “Everybody goes to work in the morning.”

She added the street remained quiet until “evening time when everybody knocks off”.

The woman said that the chain-link fence at the back of her property and others that overlook the moat was put up in the “last couple of months”.

She added she was mystified by the tragedy.

The woman said: “It’s just strange. It’s really strange. I’m clueless.”

Police said on Tuesday that Mr Dombroski’s body had been discovered at the bottom of a “significant drop”.

Superintendent Sean Field-Lament dismissed online speculation that Mr Dombroski had been found tied up or bound.

He added that Mr Dombroski’s wallet and mobile phone were found with the body, but did not rule out foul play.

Mr Field-Lament said: “We have an open mind. Nothing has been ruled out.”

An overseas forensic pathologist was expected to arrive in Bermuda yesterday to carry out an autopsy on the body.

Mr Dombroski, from Pennsylvania, was captured on CCTV as he walked alone along the road at 1.30am on Sunday.

He was last seen by friends at the Dog House bar on Hamilton’s Front Street just after midnight on Saturday.

He was spotted on CCTV at the east end of Front Street at about 1am and ten minutes later on Middle Road, Devonshire.

Mr Dombroski was in Bermuda with a team from St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia to play in the Ariel Re Bermuda International Sevens tournament.

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