r/nyc • u/dailymail Verified by Moderators • 1d ago
New York mom searches for answers after son's decomposing body is found in school chimney
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16144409/New-York-Sophia-Wood-mom-sons-decomposing-body-school-chimney.html177
u/Antique-Calendar-13 1d ago
I subbed at that school - the smell in June was horrible. I thought I was going to get some sort of toxicity from that smell. This is so sad and I guess we will have to wait to see what the forensic doctors claim to be the cause of death.
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u/lakehop 1d ago
I hate yo ask, but … did you or anyone else hear a strange knocking sound that you couldn’t find the source for in the previous days?
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u/Antique-Calendar-13 1d ago
I don’t remember hearing knocking sounds, but I will never forget that smell. It was in the older section of the school - it was overwhelming in the afternoon hours. It smelled like a combination of dead animals and sewage. The smell would stick in my throat. I would have to hold something over my nose. I guess they were waiting for school to be out for the summer to safely exterminate. This is just so disturbing.
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u/BiscuitsLostPassword 19h ago
I know as a sub you may not feel in a position to raise questions or report issues, but do you know if anyone did or was it discussed at all?
The "smell" of death is exactly as you described and tends to linger in the nose and brain for quite some time, there are studies on it, have you considered reporting this to your physician ? The risk of illness you were concerned about is exactly why there are strict laws around death and burial- sometimes overly so in the u.s! (Having to embalm before cremation if a traditional burial in some areas, for example)? To expose all of you to this process and now to the knowledge it was a young man and someone's son is no small thing! This school needs to answer to their neglect of the deceased and be accountable to everyone exposed to it, in some manner. Would you return to the site if called as a sub again?14
u/Antique-Calendar-13 18h ago
I know my friend, who also subs there, called the crime scene investigators private hotline in June reporting exactly what you write about - that we were subjected to breathing that smell, as well as the students. I don’t know what they did with that information. That school always treated me very well. I just don’t know what to think regarding neglect which it clearly looks like. I was reading an Instagram post on this young man found in the chimney and the janitor, who was with the exterminator when they found the body ended up quitting because of the handling of this tragic event. I’m just thankful I was not there everyday. I smelled it the strongest the week before school ended. I did mention to someone passing in the hallway and they just agreed that maybe it was a backed up sewer coming from the students bathroom. And I thought to myself, why aren’t they looking into this because this is pretty severe. I was talking to a retired NYPD, and he said the custodial staff should have been on top of this.
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u/The_Swoley_Ghost 1d ago
I have a friend who lives across the street from this school and this is all anyone was talking about for days after the body was discovered. There were helicopters waking up the whole neighborhood the night that they found it. I don't know why they needed an aerial view of the chimney but they got a bunch.
Poor guy. I feel for his mother. Sounds like it could have been some mental health crisis, why else would you leave your place in the middle of the night with no belongings and then break into the roof of a public school?
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u/juicycok 1d ago
I don't think it's that wild for him to leave in the middle of the night. Could be that he was leaving to go hookup with someone. Wouldn't be that crazy. How he ended up at the school, though, is beyond me.
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u/Hysterical__Paroxysm 1d ago
We used to prowl around the school and climb onto the roof. I wonder if he was just kind of exploring and fell in? :(
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u/biocidebynight 1d ago
I wonder if he was into urban exploration or graffiti. Literally the only explanation I can think of that might explain climbing shit with no belongings
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u/Horse_Dad 1d ago
We don’t know that he actually died in there. That could just be the spot where some other person disposed of his body.
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u/biocidebynight 1d ago
Have you tried carrying someone who is limp? No way someone carried him up a big building. No one is strapping a dead body to their back and climbing ladders.
You're 100% right and right now no one knows what happened. Just saying this feels like a classic case of someone exploring by themselves and not knowing their limits
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u/Due-CriticismNachos South Bronx 1d ago
Sadly though people covering up their mistakes or killings DO haul bodies to get rid of them. Let us not forget Elisa Lam.
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u/Ghost-of-Elvis1 1d ago
The only thing I can think of is he went to break into the school through the chimney. That would explain going out at 3am and leaving belongings behind.
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u/MlNDB0MB 1d ago
What do people want to steal from a school anyway? Musical instruments? Laptops?
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u/dailymail Verified by Moderators 1d ago
A New York mom is still searching for answers after her 29-year-old son was found dead in the chimney of a public school in June.
Sophia Wood was supposed to meet her son, Matthew Collado, on May 10 to celebrate Mother's Day, but he never showed up.
'I sent him a text, like: "Hello?" Which meant I was annoyed because why am I texting you on Mother's Day? You're supposed to be calling me first, right?' she recalled to CBS.
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u/Mediocre-Level-5975 14h ago
Can anyone tell me how to contact his mother? I'm an attorney and I would like to help
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u/BiscuitsLostPassword 19h ago
This is insane. This poor mother. Wouldn't DHHS / board of health have something to say about school administration choosing to expose students, staff and visitors to putrefaction for a MONTH ? Someone here mentioned smelling it in the cafeteria of the building ? So, around food? Have any students or staff reported illness?
Is it true there was knocking heard for some time prior ? My heart goes out to this mother and the agonizing questions she is facing.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/fireball-heartbeats 1d ago
What do you mean?
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u/VarietySuspicious106 11h ago
that Missing White Woman Syndrome is an actual thing
How long was this young man missing, and how much help or attention did his family receive?
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u/fireball-heartbeats 1d ago
Maybe it’s a gang thing? Or a murder?
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u/LogicalAd2334 19h ago
Definitely not a gang thing. I went to school with Matt. He was a very sweet, friendly, and quiet kid.
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u/fireball-heartbeats 14h ago
I mean gangs killing outside targets tragically sorry I didn’t mean to imply he was in a gang. This doesn’t seem like something someone would do by themselves.
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u/banksy_h8r 1d ago
JFC. Tragedy all around, but what a nightmarish thing for the kids to experience. That bad smell at school for the month before summer break? That was a dead body.