Man slides into trash chute, suffocates

COLUMBUS (AP) — An 85-year-old man slid headfirst into a trash chute inside his apartment building, where he became wedged upside-down and eventually died of suffocation, authorities said.

The body of Blanks Treadway was found surrounded by garbage by a maintenance man Monday about 9:20 a.m., just above where the chute empties into a bin, police said. His daughter discovered he was missing from his apartment about 11 a.m. Sunday.

“The theory is, he was shoving down on the trash that was backed up in the chute and when it gave way, he toppled in,” Columbus police homicide detective Wayne Buck said. “His body gave up before he could get out.”

Buck said the trash is usually emptied every day, but the maintenance man was sent Sunday to work at another building.

Treadway died of positional asphyxia, according to a tentative ruling Tuesday by Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis.

“Because he was upside down, blood pooled in his head and neck,” Lewis said. “Plus, he was in a narrow, confined space, which made it difficult for his lungs to expand.”

Treadway had just moved into a second-floor apartment in a public housing building for senior citizens that opened earlier this year.