Man’s body bundled into bale of paper

BOISE – A body found Monday inside a 1,500-pound bale of paper destined for recycling at a manufacturing plant in Twin Falls, Idaho, was likely bundled into the bale of paper at a recycling center in Garden City, Idaho, police said.

Now authorities are trying to figure out who the man is, how he got in the bale of paper, and in which of dozens of newspaper recycling locations the bale originated.

Employees at Hamilton Manufacturing Inc. in Twin Falls called police after they found the body at 7:43 a.m. Monday, when they opened the bale of paper to prepare it for recycling. Recycle bales are roughly the size of a small car.

Based on the evidence, police determined the bale of mostly newspaper came from the Boise Recycling facility.

The man, whose identity police do not yet know, is Caucasian, about 50 years old and wore clothing “consistent with that of a homeless person,” said Garden City police Sgt. Abe Blount.

“We are fairly certain the bundle came from here, but the problem is (recycling center employees) pick up newspapers from a lot of different places all over,” he said. “At this point, we don’t know what happened.”

Blount said officers don’t have a theory. Authorities have not ruled out accidental or natural death. The exact cause of death will not be known until the Ada County coroner’s office conducts an autopsy today in Boise.

Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg said his office is taking over the autopsy investigation because of the evidence that points back to Ada County. Due to the unknown factors of the case, investigators are treating it like a homicide and are preserving forensic evidence, Sonnenberg said Monday.

A human would not be able to survive being crushed during the baling process. Officials hope the autopsy will reveal whether the man was alive or dead before the process started.