Now this is a horrible way to die

Missing man crushed to death in NY trash compactor

By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, July 25, 2010

07-25) 17:37 PDT New York (AP) --

A maintenance man at a prominent western New York office building was crushed to death after falling into a trash compactor, but no one realized it for weeks as his family and authorities searched for him, police said Sunday.

Surveillance video shows John Adams tumbled into a compactor while working at the One Niagara building, and the mechanism "prevented him from being able to escape and made it impossible for co-workers or others to realize what had occurred," Niagara Falls, N.Y., police said in a release.

Adams, 67, was last seen picking up garbage on the night of July 4. Owners of the building, which houses a welcome center for visitors to the famous falls, had offered a $1,500 reward for information on Adams' whereabouts. His family had papered the area with signs seeking information.

"We were wondering for three weeks: 'Where is he?'" his sister, Evie Shepherd, said by telephone Sunday. She questioned why police apparently hadn't consulted the videotapes earlier in the search for Adams.



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