A disturbing discovery inside a historic mausoleum in Westchester Square prompted one local volunteer to take action.

Back in December, News 12 reported on a church cemetery at St. Peter’s Church that had been trashed, with signs people were living inside some of the mausoleums.

For months, Anthony Piscotta said he watched the cemetery turn into a makeshift encampment.

“You have a person that obviously has nowhere else to go but also you have this crypt where someone’s buried in. It’s supposed to be sanctity in cemeteries and it’s not, you know, so it’s a real hard seesaw to sort of balance,” Piscotta said.

When News 12 first visited, trash, food and clothing were scattered across the historic cemetery grounds — the final resting place for many Bronx families, some buried there for centuries.

Piscotta said bronze mausoleum doors had been removed in some cases.

“The old doors were made of bronze. So, they have value and, you know, people that are looking for scrap metal tend to take these doors,” he said.

The Episcopal Diocese of New York told News 12 in December that a plan was in the works to move unhoused people from the property and connect them with services. Piscotta said people were still living there.

He began cleaning and repairing mausoleums himself.

“I came in and I emptied it out, and I pressure washed the inside of it,” he said.

Days later, he made a horrifying discovery.

“EMS came first. They went up to the individual; they tried to shake him. The guy didn’t move,” Piscotta said.

Police said that on Jan. 19, a 63-year-old man was found dead inside a mausoleum. The cause of death remains under investigation.

“I felt terrible and it was really sad that someone, you know, went in here to sleep and they never woke up,” Piscotta said.

Piscotta has since repaired at least one mausoleum door in hopes of preventing something like this from happening again. One other mausoleum still appears occupied, and he said he plans to fix that door next.

“As a result of News 12’s December story, a volunteer came to us and offered to help. He has been sealing mausoleums in graveyards across the city. He reinstalled the door on one of our mausoleums, and when he returned to reinstall the other door he found the deceased man. We alerted the NYPD who handled the situation. We are heartbroken, and are praying for him.”