A tragic incident has left the Plantation community shaken after an unhoused woman was found dead, stuck in a clothing donation drop box. WSVN reports that the emergency call came early this morning when a body was discovered in the donation box located in the 8300 block of West Federated Roadway. By the time responders arrived, they pronounced the woman deceased after finding her "partially lodged" in the bin.
According to what appears to be an accident, the middle-aged woman might have been attempting to pull clothes from the bin when she tragically succumbed to suffocation. Neighbors and passersby were confronted by the cordoned-off area, complete with crime scene tape and a tarp that obscured the grim scene. Notably jarred by the event was the proximity of a day care center, just feet from the location of the incident, where parents expressed their shock at the discovery. "I am really shocked," a parent told WSVN. "I was wondering if something happened, if a pipe burst or something. I didn’t expect to hear a body."
The Plantation Police Department, which has commenced an investigation into the unfortunate event, reports that officers arrived on the scene around 6:45 a.m. The case is ongoing and currently being treated as an accidental death. Information on the woman’s identity, withheld pending notification of her next of kin, has sparked an outreach for community support and reflection on the plight of the unhoused population. "I just hope that things do end up getting better -- just more support for them because they do need it. They are human beings and for something like that to happen -- it’s just a sad accident," Crystal Flores, a local worker, told Local10.
The Plantation Police Department is urging anyone with information to come forward and contact PPD at 954-797-2100 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. The death of the woman is still under investigation. “It was a very tragic thing to happen, it’s not something that you see everyday so to come in here this morning to work and see that- all that commotion going on, its very sad to hear,” Flores added in the interview with Local10.
