City housing inspector Rick Mazzadra made a grisly discovery in a Blake Street basement Tuesday — the hanging corpse of a 24-year-old man.
The man, whose family had previously reported him missing, appears to have committed suicide, according to police.
Mazzadra made the discovery around 9:30 a.m. while making a routine code-enforcement inspection, under the city’s landlord licensing program, of a brick apartment building on Blake Street run by Mandy Management.
He inspected the third floor, then the second floor, then the first. He proceeded to look at the basement along with a maintenance worker from Mandy Management.
They discovered a door locked to a space in the basement.
“Rick,” the maintenance worker said, “you’ve got to take a look.”
Mazzadra peered through a small hole in the door.
“I saw hands hanging down from the waist down,” Mazzadra said later. “I thought it was a prop.”
Mazzadra kicked open the door — to discover a man hanging from the ceiling by an electrical cord. He immediately contacted the police and fire department. Fire emergency workers verified that the man was dead. Police began investigating. “At this point the death does not appear to be suspicious” based on numerous factors, including the fact that the door had been locked from the inside, said major crimes chief Lt. Tony Reyes.
Reyes said the man lived in the house. His family hadn’t seen him for several days before reporting him missing on Jan. 1, at which point a silver alert was issued.
Mandy Management could not be reached for comment.
This is such a sad story... With so many crimes in the Elm City further investigation should be taken to make sure suicide indeed was the cause of death. How long had the body been hanging from what the ceiling? Hook, beam, or what? This is not clear. Could someone lock the door from the inside then close it locking it automatically. How long was the boy hanging in this position? Did this young man use boxes to stand on? Did the neighbors hear any unusual noise? Usually an autopsy, or (DNA) can tell a lot especially one so terrible as this one. New Haven has a police force that can get the job don if they want too. There are to many young people and older who are losing their lives because someone disagrees with them; drugs, love interest, etc. We have a leading University (Yale)in a city that has turned out many successful individuals, and yet crimes such as these mentioned continue to happened without finding the guilty parties. This must change, or else these crimes will increase, and before you know it, it will reach your neighborhoods. This is truly a sad day for all who live in New Haven.A life that could have probably been saved is lost, and for what! Find out what really happened to this young man, do not brush this under the carpet.