A 19-year-old domestic worker was found dead between two residential towers in Amrapali Silicon City in Noida Sector 76 on Tuesday. The woman, identified Sonamuni, had been missing since Friday, the Hindustan Times reported. Her decomposed body was found at the 12th floor level, wedged in a foot-long space between the towers.

Jai Prakash, an 18th floor resident of Tower D, saw the body on Tuesday morning. “There are 16 floors in Tower C and 18 in Tower B,” said security guard Deepak Mishra. “There is a one-foot gap between the two towers. Around 7.30 am, a resident alerted us about a stench from the vacant space.”

The society’s security head Vijay Singh said they found Sonamuni, who was from Bihar, on a slab between the two towers. Singh then informed the police. However, the police failed to retrieve the body. A National Disaster Response Force team was then called in. The officials broke a portion of a 12th floor flat and pulled the body up before lowering it with a rope. “We tried to pull the body up from the top floor and also attempted to bring it down from the ground – both did not work,” said NDRF inspector Jitendra Kumar.

“Her employer, an interior designer, said the woman went missing on June 28,” said Sector 49 police station house officer Ajay Kumar Agarwal. “He had informed her family in Bihar. The family members said they would be visiting Noida soon so a police complaint was not filed.”

Circle Officer Vimal Kumar said it was unclear whether the domestic worker slipped into the gap or if there was some foul play. He said the police were waiting for the autopsy report.