By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Police say the man found laying dead next to a dumpster outside a Centralia business yesterday morning was still warm to the touch.
The 49-year-old’s body was discovered by a passerby, about 25 feet from the sidewalk along the 500 block of Harrison Avenue, a main arterial in town. Centralia police were alerted at 7:08 a.m., police Sgt. Tracy Murphy said.
Murphy said there were no obvious signs of foul play or trauma, but the cause of death is unknown.
“We just have to wait for the autopsy results to come back,” he said today.
His identity has not yet been released.
Police said yesterday the man has a Chehalis address. He has a couple of different addresses, one on his license and one from the law enforcement database, Murphy said.
He had a backpack on, but did not have a bedroll with him or any other bags of belongings that might suggest he was living on the streets, Murphy said.
Temperatures dropped to 30 degrees during the night previous.
Centralia resident Chandra Shilley, who with her husband Chris Shilley distributes meals every Wednesday afternoon at the Amtrak station, said she knows the man who died. He was living out of his vehicle, she said.
“It’s sad, it’s incredibly sad,” she said.
Shilley estimates there are easily 150 people locally living on the streets.
The body was released to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office for autopsy and formal identification.
Last winter, in mid-December, a homeless man was found dead of hypothermia after a night of freezing temperatures, with his backpack and all of his belongings at Rotary Riverside Park off Harrison Avenue. Jerry Allen Grimm was 57 years old.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
“A weight of ton” and “XD’s” I am appalled at your cold and senseless comments. Not helpful in the least…. I find myself most troubled by the fact that someone would take the time to leave such a mindless and ignorant comment. Maybe you should get a job, because I can’t imagine any educated person with a job, family, or any responsibilities whatsoever, would spend valuable their valuable time making completely unwarranted, unhelpful, and completely pointless comments about a deceased person regardless of the circumstances that lead to their untimely death. This man had family…CHILDREN for crying out loud. Have some decency and try practicing some self control. I knew Mike personally, and have been friends with his brother for over 20 years. He was a good man and I have nothing but heartwarming memories of his huge smile. His death is untimely, extremely sad, and has caused a massive void in his family. Please be respectful of my late friend, and to people in general…you have no idea how a person has arrived at certain points in their lives, but I can assure you that the number of people that “choose to be homeless” is that of minutiae. In my professional and personal life I can count on one hand the number of folks I have come in contact with who “choose to be homeless” and it would be conservative to say the number is even remotely close to 1%. Perhaps you might have a better opinion on the matter if you had ever taken the time to actually talk to a person affected by homelessness…. Although I don’t actually expect you to have the empathy or compassion to actually do this, I do expect you to mind your own business, or even better -Don’t say anything unless you have something nice to say!
Let the man have peace. He was my friend homeless or not he was still my friend. Why does it have to be mentioned where or how he lived is it because he didn’t live in a house with a white picket fence that he was less of a human being. He couldn’t even die with any dignity the least we can do is show a little compassion for him & all the rest of everyday people that struggle to survive from day to day. God Bless you Mike you will be sadly missed & never forgotten. R. I. P. My friend
Let the man have peace
Yes, I’m sure that lectures are the answer to the homeless problem.
There is so much work out there that nobody has to be unemployed. They choose to be. Why should we help those that don’t want to do for themselves?
If he would have been working night shift somewhere or at the homeless shelter he might have lived. Don’t choose homelessness has a lifestyle, work and get educated.