Homicide detectives are investigating the suspicious death of a man whose body was found in a load of cardboard dropped off at a northwest Edmonton recycling facility Thursday morning.
Police said the body was likely picked up, along with the cardboard, from a recycling dumpster before it was found at Capital Paper Recycling near 150 Street and 128 Avenue at around 9:30 a.m.
EPS Homicide Unit Staff Sgt. Bill Clark said the case poses a challenge for investigators because the truck driver made about 50 stops Thursday morning. The body was discovered after the truck returned to the recycling centre and emptied its load.
Clark said officers will be checking the recycled boxes for addresses or any information that might help narrow down where the load came from.
The man’s identity and how he died is not known.
“The injuries are consistent with what appear to be a suffocation in the cardboard and that, but there is also some other injuries that we’re looking at,” Clark said.
Clark said the body has been taken to the medical examiner’s office to be identified.
“Hopefully get some identification, be able to identify him and then backtrack from there as to where he came from or where he may live — things like that.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday morning. Clark said that should help determine if the death was criminal or non-criminal.
“Obviously if there are signs of blood, obviously things like that. I mean, ultimately it would be best if there’s video, right? We would see this individual, if it was non-criminal, crawling in there to sleep. Or if it’s criminal, maybe somebody’s dumping him.”
This isn’t the first time a body has been found at the recycling facility. In both June of 2012 and August of 2013, bodies were also found there.
READ MORE: Body discovered at Edmonton recycling plant