A body has been discovered inside a chimney at a primary school in New York after maintenance staff investigating a foul odour made the grim find. The remains were found at P.S./I.S. 113 Anthony J. Pranzo in Glendale, Queens, shortly after 9am local time on Tuesday, prompting a major police investigation.
An exterminator called to the site to check the smell reported finding a shoe and what appeared to be a human foot inside the chimney’s ash dump. The school had already broken up for summer last Friday, meaning no pupils or teachers were on the premises. The building was also closed for construction work, with scaffolding visible near a round steel chimney on the exterior.
A school community in shock
The school, which serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, has around 750 to 770 pupils and is rated among the top 30 per cent of all New York schools for test scores. Student proficiency in maths is 67 per cent and in reading 63 per cent, with a pupil-teacher ratio of roughly 15-to-one. The principal is Alejandro Megias.
The New York City Department of Education described the discovery as “deeply upsetting and concerning” and said it was ensuring support for the school community during the police investigation. The 104th Precinct of the NYPD, which covers Glendale, responded to a 911 call at 8.59am on Tuesday. Officers were sent to the vicinity of 87th Street and 78th Avenue, within the precinct’s boundaries.
Investigators piece together the circumstances
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death and identify the deceased. Sources indicate the remains appear to belong to an adult and had been decomposing for an extended period. How the body came to be inside the chimney and how long it had been there remain unclear.
Police are accounting for all contractors who had been working on site in the days before the discovery. City Buildings Department records confirm recent permits for electrical wiring and hot water heating work. At this stage there is no public evidence linking any contractor or school employee to the remains.
Glendale is considered a relatively safe neighbourhood. Its crime rate of 22.65 per 1,000 residents places it in the 82nd percentile for safety – meaning it is safer than 82 per cent of US neighbourhoods. The 104th Precinct ranked 21st safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010, and violent crime rates in the area are lower than the citywide average. The direct cause of the foul odour that triggered the search remains unclear, though in similar cases chimney smells can arise from decomposition, animal infestation or creosote buildup.
The NYPD said: “There were no students or school staff inside the building at the time of the discovery. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation remains ongoing.”
