A death in St. Leonard, which police had briefly declared to be a murder, is once again being described as a "suspicious death."

On Tuesday afternoon Montreal homicide investigators announced that a man in his twenties, whose lifeless body was found in a car on Michelet south of Jean Talon at around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, was murdered.

Later Tuesday afternoon police appeared less certain that it was a case or murder and returned to their original assesment of a suspicious death. 

Police spent the morning investigating the scene after a passerby spotted the victim inside the vehicle parked near the busy artery in the heart of St. Leonard.

Police have interviewed neighbours and are seeking other potential witnesses in an attempt to investigate what could possibly be the city’s 19th homicide of 2014.

Last year at this time 17 people had been killed on the island of Montreal.