Photo: ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL/USA TODAY NETWORK
The partial remains of a 20-year-old man missing since May were found at the South Carolina recycling plant where he worked, according to multiple outlets citing officials.
The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office said tests showed Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon fell into a shredding machine atIndustrial Recovery and Recycling in Greerand died,The Statereported. Gordon was working on the machine when he went missing, per the South Carolina newspaper.
After the third search, the recovered material — which was found “under a support under the conveyor belt just after the plastic shredding machine” — was eventually determined to be blood, Coroner Rusty Clevenger wrote in a news release, according to NBC affiliateWYFF.
“After hydration, it tested positive for human blood,” Clevenger added.
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Tests confirmed that “the material is consistent with human fat, microscopically minute particles of skin and small pieces of bone,” the coroner said in the release, according toWYFF.
About 60,000 lbs. of plastic were processed between May 5, when Gordon was last seen, and when investigators first arrived to inspect the machine, Clevenger reportedly said.
The coroner said officials at the plant cooperated with the office’s missing persons investigation, which is now closed, WYFF reported.
The recycling plant did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office are both investigating the death, PEOPLE confirms.
According to theHerald-Journal, police did not comment on whether Gordon’s death was being investigated as an accident or a homicide.
“He has three older brothers and one younger sister,” said mom Jaime Renee Dill, according to theHerald-Journal. “He loved bowling and four-wheeling. He was a goofball. He loved his gummy bears.”
source: people.com
