11/10/08

Twin Falls Police are investigating the appearance of a body in an unusual place.

This morning the police department received a call from employees of Hamilton Manufacturing at 118 Market Avenue saying that they had discovered a body of an adult male in a large bale of recycled paper.

Capt. Matt Hicks of the Twin Falls Police Department says, “We've been told that Hamilton Manufacturing buys recycled paper and other products from around the state of Idaho, and there's an indication right now that this bale is not from the Twin Falls area.”

The man has not been identified yet.

According to the Idaho Statesman, there is speculation that the paper bale may have originated from the Boise recycling facility in Garden City.

Hicks says, “We're working closely with officials from the Boise area right now to try to verify where that shipment came from and to make an identification of the body.”

Hicks says the police is working closely with the Twin Falls Coroner's Office, and they hope to have an autopsy complete by the end of the week.

He says, “This is obviously very unusual for not only the business involved but for our department as well.”

Officials with Hamilton Manufacturing declined comment, but Captain Hicks says they are cooperating with the investigation.

“These are large bales of paper. I don't have the exact dimensions; they're very large bales that are actually compacted with a very large machine in order to try to save time and money while shipping these materials. And the man's body that was found inside of that presumably before it was bound together.”

Captain Hicks says he hopes that as early as Tuesday, police will have traced the origins of the paper, and very soon after, have identified the body.