Bloomington police are investigating after a man was found dead Sunday behind a dumpster near the downtown Kroger on South College Avenue, just south of First Street. The cause and manner of death had not been determined, with those findings pending from the coroner's office.
A Backpack, a Name Called Out, No Response
The Bloomingtonian reported that Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo said officers responded around 4:15 after a passerby found the man. The passerby had been walking south along the west side of College Avenue when he noticed a backpack near the dumpster and then saw the man behind it. He called out the man's name but received no response, according to The Bloomingtonian.
The passerby called police after becoming concerned. Officers arrived near First Street and South College Avenue, on the south side of Kroger, and confirmed the man was deceased. The cause and manner of death remained undetermined at the time of the report, and the findings are expected from the coroner's office, according to The Bloomingtonian.
A Similar Case From Earlier This Year
The circumstances echo another Bloomington death from earlier this year that also left investigators waiting on lab results. In June, Raymond Stewart, 51, of Bedford, was found dead shortly before 8:45 a.m. outside a business in the 200 block of North Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington, the outlet's earlier report on that case notes. Investigators found no obvious signs of trauma at the time, and Stewart's cause and manner of death remained undetermined, with an autopsy scheduled for June 12 in Terre Haute to help determine how he died, per a report from The Bloomingtonian. Monroe County Coroner Jeff Hall later released Stewart's name after his family had been notified.
No such identification has been made public in Sunday's case, and police have not said whether the man found near the Kroger dumpster has been identified. As with the Stewart case, the answers on cause and manner of death are expected to come from the coroner's office rather than from police at the scene.
Statewide overdose context
The available verified data are statewide rather than specific to Monroe County, so they do not establish how common fatal drug overdoses are in the county or whether its trend has changed. As broader context—not a determination about Sunday's death—the Indiana Department of Health reported that 1,618 Indiana residents died by unintentional or undetermined-intent drug overdose in 2024, down from 2,130 in 2023, according to the Indiana Department of Health's Division of Trauma and Injury Prevention.
