Authorities ID man found dead in grocery store air ducts

Posted at 3:29 PM, April 30, 2020 and last updated 4:45 PM, July 21, 2023

CLEVELAND (AP) — A man whose body was found this week in an air duct at an Ohio grocery store had been missing for more than week, his relatives said,

Daniel Collins, 54 was found Wednesday after an exterminator was called to investigate a foul odor at the Save-A-Lot store in Cleveland’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood. The exterminator found the body and called police, authorities said.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner has not yet determined a cause of death, but police said they found no obvious signs of violence and that Collins likely entered the air ducts on his own.

Collins lived in a home directly behind the store, authorities said. His brother told Cleveland.com that family members last saw Collins alive in the early morning hours of April 21.

Firefighters used a large electric saw to cut a hole in the top of the roof to help recover Collins’ body. Police homicide investigators also used a hatch on top of the roof to access the ducts while investigating the death.

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