A pest control worker responding to reports of a foul odor at a Queens public school made a grim discovery Tuesday morning: a decomposing body lodged inside a chimney, police and law enforcement sources said.
The exterminator arrived shortly before 9 a.m. at P.S./I.S. 113 Anthony J. Pranzo, located at 87th Street and 78th Avenue in Glendale, after a janitor asked him to check the source of the smell, authorities and sources said.
When the worker opened the ash dump, he spotted a shoe and then felt what appeared to be a foot inside, according to the sources.
Members of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit were working to recover the body from the chimney, the sources said.
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The city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an examination to determine the cause of death, police said.
Investigators had not yet determined how long the body had been trapped in the smokestack.
Law enforcement sources said the school had recently undergone construction, and investigators are looking into whether anyone connected to that work has been reported missing.
No students or staff members were inside the building at the time, aside from the janitor, because classes are out for the summer, police and sources said.
