A 58-year-old Hillsboro man was found dead late Friday afternoon (Feb. 3) in his pickup parked outside the Schnucks grocery store, 1811 W. Gannon Drive, in Festus.
The man, Ronald H. Korte, apparently had existing medical issues, and his death is not considered suspicious, Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said today (Feb. 6).
“The investigation revealed he’d just been released from a hospital and dropped off prescriptions at the (Schnucks) pharmacy,” Lewis said. “They said it would take a while, so evidently he went to his truck to wait.”
At 4:15 p.m., Festus Police got a call about Korte being found in his black pickup outside the store.
“We received a call of an unresponsive man who appeared to not be breathing,” Lewis said. “(Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District) paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Officers tried to do CPR on him. He was not breathing, but we are not doctors so we tried CPR. JPAD also tried CPR.”
Lewis said the cause of death has not been determined.
“We are not pursuing an autopsy because of the known medical issues,” he said.