2 bodies wound up in a Tacoma recycling plant. Here’s what the medical examiner found
Two men found dead earlier this year in a recycling plant on Tacoma’s Tideflats died of accidental drug toxicity, the medical examiner ruled Thursday. Police are no longer investigating.
The men, 33 and 36, were found dead April 12 and 15 at JMK Fibers, a recycling facility in the 1400 block of Port of Tacoma Road. Tacoma Police Department officers responded to the facility each time, and death investigations were opened. Detective William Muse, a spokesperson, said Friday there was no indication the men died by homicide.
The 33-year-old man died of acute fentanyl, methamphetamine, and methadone toxicity, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office. The 36-year-old man died of acute combined methamphetamine, fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl intoxication.
It’s unclear how the men ended up at the facility. The two were believed to be homeless at the time of their deaths, according to police. Muse said they knew one another and at one point spent time in jail together. He said it was possible they took shelter from poor weather in a recycling container, overdosed and weren’t discovered until they arrived at the facility in Tacoma.
A plant manager for JMK Fibers told a detective the facility takes recyclables from Kitsap County, south King County and most of Pierce County, according to Muse. The material is brought to Tacoma and put onto a pile in a covered warehouse, where it waits to be loaded onto a tumbler. Then, an employee looks at the material on a conveyor belt and pulls things out that can’t be recycled.
Employees found the bodies while sorting through material, Muse said. He said the remains could have been in the pile for anywhere from one to seven days before they were discovered.
