{"id":904623,"date":"2026-07-01T04:19:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T04:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/904623\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T04:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T04:19:34","slug":"queens-school-mystery-custodian-recounts-discovering-dead-mans-body-in-chimney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/904623\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens school mystery: Custodian recounts discovering dead man\u2019s body in chimney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt was the pest control guy who caught the smell and opened it up and found an older man inside,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cIt was definitely not a kid but an older gentleman with like a nine-inch foot. The pest control guy who found it first, I was the second guy. He was here but he went home, I guess it was too much for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/site\/nypd\/bureaus\/patrol\/precincts\/104th-precinct.page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">104th Precinct<\/a> responded to a 911 call just before 9 a.m. at P.S.\/I.S. 113, the Anthony Pranzo School, at 78-23 87th St. in Glendale. The corpse was removed by the city\u2019s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner which will determine the cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>Crime scene investigators from the 104th Precinct were seen on the rooftop of the school on Tuesday afternoon. The remains may have belonged to a contractor who was working on a construction project at the school, according to a law enforcement source, though it is unclear if that is the case this early into the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>There were no students or staff at the school after summer recess began after classes on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Glendale resident George Perez said his 11-year-old daughter Hazel is a student at the school.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe got a few phone calls this morning that a dead body was found in her school, so we decided to come and see for ourselves,\u201d Perez said. \u201cThe guy must have been dead for days. It\u2019s kind of scary. I\u2019m shocked to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/queens-chimney-4.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-137857119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/queens-chimney-4.jpg\" alt=\"According to a law enforcement source, the body could belong to a contractor who was working on a construction project at the school.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"956\" title=\"Queens school mystery: Custodian recounts discovering dead man's body in chimney 2\"  \/><\/a>According to a law enforcement source, the body could belong to a contractor who was working on a construction project at the school.Photo by Dean Moses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/queens-chimney-discovery-1.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-137857120\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/queens-chimney-discovery-1.jpg\" alt=\"Police in protective gear helped remove the human remains of an adult man from a chimney at P.S.\/I.S. 113 on Tuesday, June 30.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"855\" title=\"Queens school mystery: Custodian recounts discovering dead man's body in chimney 3\"  \/><\/a>Police in protective gear helped remove the human remains of an adult man from a chimney at P.S.\/I.S. 113 on Tuesday, June 30.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n<p>Another Glendale resident, Maggie Rosario, was curious about the discovery.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI heard all the helicopters and sirens before. So, I came out for a walk and then saw this happening, Rosario said. \u201cThey usually have a summer camp, and you know, kids that go. That starts next week. This really is sad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There have been no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing, an NYPD spokeswoman said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the NYPD\u2019s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/crimestoppers.nypdonline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">crimestoppers.nypdonline.org<\/a>\u00a0or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/queens-chimney-discovery-2.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-137857121\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/queens-chimney-discovery-2.jpg\" alt=\"School custodian Brendan Chavez was still shaken hours after an exterminator showed him the corpse in the chimney.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"816\" title=\"Queens school mystery: Custodian recounts discovering dead man's body in chimney 4\"  \/><\/a>School custodian Brendan Chavez was still shaken hours after an exterminator showed him the corpse in the chimney.Photo by Dean Moses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/chimeny-5.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-137857117\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/chimeny-5.jpg\" alt=\"An NYPD spokeswoman said there are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"904\" title=\"Queens school mystery: Custodian recounts discovering dead man's body in chimney 5\"  \/><\/a>An NYPD spokeswoman said there are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was the pest control guy who caught the smell and opened it up and found an older&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":904624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,366125,76761,233459,40889,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,366126,4413,366127,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-904623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-brendan-chavez","tag-chimney","tag-doa","tag-glendale","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-p-s-i-s-113","tag-queens","tag-the-anthony-pranzo-school","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116842802125717299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}