Members from the Edmonton Police Service forensics unit prepare to enter a suite at the Victoria Trail Apartments, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010. A deceased male was found in the apartment Sept. 7, 2010. An autopsy conducted Sept. 8, 2010 ruled the death a homicide. DAVID BLOOM/QMI AGENCY

EDMONTON — Several neighbours say they've been swatting large flies in a north end apartment building where a man's rotting remains were found by police in a fourth-floor suite.

Edmonton police said they responded to a sudden death at the apartment building sometime around 5 p.m. Tuesday.

When they arrived, they found Andrew Patrick McPherson, 25, dead inside the top-level suite.

A medical examiner ruled McPherson died from foul play and police didn't release any information about the case until late Thursday afternoon.

"These flies aren't little fruit flies. They are big, big flies," said Adam Beaumont, a 35-year-old oil worker who lives in a lower-level suite.

"They are flies from a dead body, so we had fumigators come in and fumigate all of the roofs because they were being pushed into the airways of the building."

Beaumont said the infestation in the building has been around for a week and a half — a reason why he thinks "the body has been there for 10 days."

Police are also remaining tightlipped on how the body was found, along with details surrounding the nature of McPherson's death.

Neither will investigators comment on a broadcast media report that alleges the man's body was chopped up.

"For the purpose of the investigation at this point, homicide detectives won't be releasing any further details," said police spokesman Chad Orydzuk.

Beaumont said he would see two to 10 people in their 20s hanging out on the balcony smoking, sometimes every week.

And a resident in the building, who didn't want her name published, said the building's manager called police after getting complaints from neighbours about the fly problem.

"Sometimes I would have one or two of them bum smokes off of me," said the tenant who admitted she's been swatting three to four large flies a day.

"They were really grungie looking."

Beaumont said they don't know whether or not McPherson lived in the suite.

"They would usually be drinking every Friday and Saturday night and sometimes you would see fist fights in front of the building," said Beaumont.

"You would always see people in and out of there every night."

Forensic crews were seen walking in and out of the suite in white protective suits and detectives also left business cards on the front doors of every suite in the building for tips.