The woman found dead inside a trash compactor in the basement of a luxury Manhattan apartment building has been identified, CBS News reports.
Investigators say it does not appear foul play was involved in the death of 24-year-old Jaclyn Elmquist, but rather they believe she fell down a garbage chute. As CrimeOnline previously reported, a maintenance worker discovered the woman’s body on Friday afternoon, prompting a large police presence at the Chelsea property.
Elmquist had been at a work party about 10 blocks away from the building around 11:30 p.m. Thursday and later went to a bar, where she was put in a taxi by coworkers, according to the New York Post.
Security camera footage showed Elmquist with an unsteady gait walking down a sidewalk along West 28th Street before going into the building, even though she did not live there, according to NBC New York.
By Friday morning, when Elmquist had failed to return home in Brooklyn or go to work, her loved ones began publicizing her disappearance.
“My cousin Jackie Elmquist has been missing since last night after she left a work party in Manhattan – she didn’t come home or show up for work this morning please spread the word so people in the area can see it since all of her family lives here in Minnesota,” one relative posted on X.
New York City’s Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
Residents who live in the neighborhood were stunned at the tragedy.
“It’s horrifying and it’s surprising,” Steve Press told CBS News.
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