Police investigate dead body found in vacant Emerson-Garfield lot

Spokane police are investigating an unattended death in a vacant lot behind Value Village in Emerson-Garfield, but don’t believe the death is suspicious. The dead man was in his 40s and his body was found just before 2 p.m. in the lot off of North Wall Street near the intersection of West Sharp Avenue, police spokesman Cpl. Glenn Bartlett said. There was no obvious cause of death at the scene and nothing suspicious other than that the dead man was “kinda young,” Bartlett said. Robert Steele, who lives across the street from the lot, said he was hanging out with his neighbors Wednesday afternoon when a man came over and asked to use a phone, saying he’d found a dead body. Steele said it’s common for homeless people to spend time in the lot and on the hill overlooking it. “There’s people passing through there all the time,” he said. Major Crimes detectives are investigating the death as a precaution because it was unattended. The Spokane County medical examiner’s office will release the name of the victim and the cause of death.