A 48-year-old Festus man was found dead Tuesday morning (May 7) behind the former Kmart store, 155 Twin City Mall, in Crystal City, said Capt. Mike Pruneau of the Crystal City Police Department.
He would not identify the man today (May 9).
Pruneau said the man was found on concrete steps behind the vacant store, and he had numerous aerosol air-duster cans around him, so officers believe he was “huffing,” a slang term for inhaling chemical vapors in order to get high.
“It appears he fell forward onto the concrete steps unconscious and his airway closed off and he passed away,” Pruneau said.
A woman picking up a prescription at a nearby Walgreens, 519 S. Truman Blvd., spotted the man on the steps at about 6:30 a.m. After she repeatedly honked her horn and the man didn’t move, she drove home to get her phone and then contacted Crystal City Police, Pruneau said.