Body found in paper baled for recycling in Twin Falls

BOISE, Idaho — A body found Monday inside a 1,500-pound bale of paper destined for recycling at a manufacturing plant in Twin Falls, Idaho, was likely bundled into the bale of paper at a recycling center in Garden City, Idaho, police said.

Now authorities are trying to figure out who the man is, how his body got in the bale of paper, and in which of dozens of newspaper-recycling locations the bale originated.

Employees at Hamilton Manufacturing in Twin Falls called police after they found the body at 7:43 a.m. Monday, when they opened the bale of paper to prepare it for recycling. Recycle bales are roughly the size of a small car.

Based on the evidence, police determined the bale, of mostly newspaper, came from the Boise Recycling facility.

The man, whose identity police do not yet know, is white, about 50 years old and wore clothing "consistent with that of a homeless person," said Garden City police Sgt. Abe Blount.

"We are fairly certain the bundle came from here, but the problem is [recycling-center employees] pick up newspapers from a lot of different places all over," he said. "At this point, we don't know what happened."

Blount said officers don't have a theory. Authorities have not ruled out accidental or natural death. The exact cause of death will not be known until the Ada County Coroner's Office conducts an autopsy in Boise on Wednesday.

Missing men

Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg said his office is taking over the autopsy investigation because of the evidence that points back to Ada County. Because of the unknown factors of the case, investigators are treating it like a homicide and are preserving forensic evidence, Sonnenberg said Monday.

A human would not be able to survive being crushed during the baling. Officials hope the autopsy will reveal whether the man was alive or dead before the baling started.

Garden City and Boise police officials said they have cases of men reported missing, but they don't yet have enough information about the body to make a comparison.

Detectives have been in contact with officials at Boise Recycling, which is operated by Western Recycling.

"It is just kind of a mystery to everyone right now," said Rick Gillihan, general manager of Western Recycling. "We are trying to piece it all together and figure out what did happen, where [the body] came from and how it got there."

None of Western Recycling's employees are missing, Gillihan said.

100 bales a day

Every day, the Boise center churns out dozens of 1-ton bales of recycled paper.

The company collects paper from large, metal newspaper-recycling containers, like those found in parking lots at churches, schools, groceries and other locations. The plant also receives large quantities of newspapers from commercial compactors.

Paper is dumped onto a large conveyor belt, then pushed into bales secured with wire strapping.

"We can do up to 100 bales a day, sometimes 200," Gillihan said.

Each bale weighs about 1,500 pounds and measures 4 feet by 5 feet by 2 feet.

Western Recycling sells the bales to different buyers that use recycled paper. In Twin Falls, the paper was to become insulation.

Gillihan, who has worked for Western Recycling for 27 years, said he has "never, ever, ever" had something like this happen.

"I hope I go another 27 years without seeing something like this," he said.