Police are still looking for clues after the body of a local gay man was found last week.
A passerby found the body of Scott Stephen Bernheisel May 28 inside a suitcase that was left near the Tinicum Township Industrial Park just outside Philadelphia International Airport.
The Delaware County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt-force trauma; Bernheisel had also been stabbed in the neck.
Sgt. James Simpkins of the Tinicum Township Police declined to comment on the investigation.
Jose Aguiar, one of Bernheisel’s best friends for 15 years, said Bernheisel had been missing for a couple weeks prior to last week’s gruesome discovery. He said his last known activity was May 15.
Aguiar said Bernheisel had some acquaintances in Delaware County but was otherwise unsure of a connection to Tinicum Township.
Bernheisel, 40, was born in Atlantic City and raised in Galloway Township, N.J. He obtained an associate’s degree in business administration from Atlantic Cape Community College and took classes at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Bernheisel moved to Philadelphia in June 2011 and was most recently living in Pennsport.
At the time of his murder, he was on probation stemming from two drug-related arrests in 2013.
Bernheisel had not been recently employed but was previously a table-games dealer at Resorts Atlantic City, and a mortgage loan officer and licensed real-estate agent in New Jersey.
Aguiar said Bernheisel took on real estate and mortgage clients that others had turned away, as he sought to help others however he could.
“Scott was the most caring person you would encounter,” Aguiar said. “He would rather go without eating than know someone else had no food. Even with as little as he had, he took the time to give food and money to those less fortunate than he, always giving money to the homeless on the street or buying them a bite to eat. Very few people have the love and compassion for humanity that Scott had.”
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Parsels Funeral Home in Absecon, N.J., but a date had not been announced as of presstime.
“It’s heartbreaking to know that his life ended how it did because Scott was the sweetest, most gentle soul,” Aguiar said. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone and truly believed that if people just took the time to talk things through, problems could be resolved. Evidently, whoever he was with in his last moments disagreed.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Simpkins at 610-521-3830 or Sgt. Bill Gordon at 610-891-4703.