The man whose badly decomposed body was found stuffed in a Queens public school chimney has been identified as an aspiring rapper who “was afraid of heights” and hates fire and smoke, according to cops and his mother.
The rotting body of Matthew Collado, 29, was discovered on June 30 wedged into the smokestack at P.S./I.S. 113 Anthony J. Pranzo at 87 Street and 78 Avenue in Glendale – all because an exterminator went to investigate a putrid odor, according to authorities and sources.
About a month later, Collado‘s grieving mother, Sophia Wood, learned the remains were in fact her son’s, The Daily News reported.
“There’s a void in my gut,” Wood told the paper. “I walk around in a daze. I still haven’t believed it yet.”
A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office confirmed Thursday that the cause and manner of Collado’s death are both “pending further study. “
Wood told the paper she hadn’t heard from her son since the day before Mother’s Day, when he said he’d spend the holiday with her at his grandmother’s nursing home – but never showed up.
She soon plastered missing person’s flyers around the neighborhood and began probing for any answers online.
The lack of closure has left Wood so desperate for any information that she plans to hire a private investigator.
“The cops have nothing. There’s no cameras. There’s no videos. No footage of how he ended up there, how he got into the school,” Wood told The News. “There’s nothing.”
“My son was afraid of heights so him climbing up there? That is not my son,” said Wood. “He hates fire. He hates smoke. A chimney? It doesn’t jive with my son and who he was.”
Collado, raised in East Elmhurst, had planned to begin a new job as a residential aide at a Breaking Ground shelter, according to his mom.
He was also an aspiring rapper whose stage name was A.K. Nash. He posted some of his songs on Soundcloud, his mom told the paper.
“That’s how I hear his voice now,” the bereaved mom said.
A pest control worker discovered Collado’s remains when a janitor called him to investigate a stench emanating from the chimney, according to authorities and law enforcement sources.
The exterminator opened the ash dump and found a shoe – around size 9 or 10 – then felt a foot inside, according to the sources and the custodian, Brendan Chavez.
It was unclear how long the body had been stuck inside the chimney before it was found — but students said the rancid smell had been in the air for weeks.
The investigation into the shocking death is ongoing, the NYPD said.
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