By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – An individual described by authorities as a deceased male person who appeared to be transient found in a Centralia park yesterday morning died of hypothermia.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod indicated in a written statement the accidental death was due to exposure to the the cold environment.
The man was found dead in Rotary Riverside Park off Harrison Avenue and police were called to the scene just after 7 o’clock yesterday morning.
Tuesday’s high temperatures in the Twin Cities never got over 41 degrees. By 1 a.m., the thermometer had dropped to 32 degrees and stayed that way until after the man was found.
A Centralia police spokesperson yesterday said it didn’t seem suspicious, and she didn’t know why the man was at the park.
Coroner McLeod reported after an autopsy scheduled for today he couldn’t yet release the man’s name. Neither police nor the coroner have revealed even an approximate age.
“We have positively identified the decedent but have not yet been able to locate next of kin to make notification to them,” McLeod stated.
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For background, read “News brief: Police investigating after body found in Centralia park” from Wednesday December 14, 2016, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I find it interesting that the man was described as, “appeared to be transient,” is automatically considered homeless. Yes homelessness is an issue everywhere, but what I find tragic is the assumption of appearance, can easily label a person into a category, that disconnects from the so called norm. The tragedy here is a person died. Just because someone labeled them as “appeared to be transient,” leading to people to assume the person homeless, to make it sound more tragic is sensationalism. My thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the deceased person
This is so sad!! Dying alone in a park freezing to death what a horrible way to die!! R.I.P
It is so sad that a homeless person can freeze to death and yet we as tax payers support and feed people that are in jail.
So sad. We need to help the homeless more. We are the United States of America for crying out loud. We all should b3 ashamed.
When will the name be released? I am hoping it isn’t someone my family knows who has been homeless a while.
This is ridiculous, we need to have those special survival blankets distributed to the homeless, or places they can stay to be warm, how horrible to die alone and cold.