DENVER (AP) — An elderly Colorado man found dead in a parking garage elevator had pushed the emergency button twice but got no response, police said.
The decomposing body of 82-year-old Isaak Komisarchik was found Aug. 2 after multiple residents of a Denver apartment complex reported a terrible stench. Elevator repair workers found the body.
An investigation into the death by the Denver Police Department revealed that Komisarchik pushed the emergency button twice during an 8-minute span on July 6 but got no response, The Denver Post reported Thursday.
The calls went to MEI Total Elevator Solutions, which reported them to the apartment complex, Woodstream Village. Apartment complex staffers checked two elevators, but not the one containing Komisarchik.
Komisarchik, who suffered from dementia, was inside an elevator in a parking garage that had been closed for renovation, and the elevator was not operable.
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“How he got in there and when he got in there is obviously what we’re trying to figure out,” said John White, spokesman for Denver police.
He was last seen was last seen wearing pajamas on July 5 at a nearby nursing facility.
Komisarchik’s disappearance prompted the distribution of missing persons posters as well as a search of five ponds near the apartment complex by firefighters to try to find him.
The emergency notification system apparently did not specify the exact elevator making the emergency call, but an investigation continues, said Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman.
The cause of death has not yet been determined. Foul play is not suspected, Schepman said.
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