Additional Coverage:
- Man’s rotting body found stuffed inside school chimney after foul smelling odor reported (themirror.com)
The family of Matthew Collado, a 29-year-old aspiring rapper from Queens, New York, is desperately seeking answers after his decomposed body was discovered inside a school chimney. Matthew, who performed under the name A.K. Nash, went missing in May, sparking a months-long search.
Matthew was last seen on security footage leaving his apartment at 3:22 a.m. on May 9. The day before his disappearance, he had texted his mother, Sophia Wood, to arrange a Mother’s Day visit at his grandmother’s nursing home.
When he failed to appear, Sophia grew worried. Upon checking his apartment, she found the door ajar and noticed his phone and wallet still inside.
Sophia promptly reported him missing and distributed flyers throughout the neighborhood, but there were no leads for weeks. Then, on June 30, an exterminator responding to complaints about a foul smell at P.S.
/I.S. 113, a public school in Glendale, Queens, made a horrifying discovery. The school had been closed for summer break and was undergoing renovations when the exterminator investigated the odor coming from the chimney.
“They found a shoe first, then reached further up and felt a foot,” Sophia recounted. Police were called, and the remains of an adult male were recovered from the chimney’s ash dump.
Initially, authorities were unable to identify the body, and Sophia was told the remains were likely not her son. However, after seeing news reports, she contacted detectives, and DNA testing confirmed the grim truth on July 29.
Sophia described the emotional toll, saying, “It was me, my daughter, and my son. We were the power of three, and now we’re missing one.
It hurts us.” Despite the confirmation of Matthew’s death, the circumstances remain a mystery.
Authorities have not yet determined how he ended up inside the chimney or the cause and manner of his death.
Sophia expressed frustration with the lack of progress in the investigation, emphasizing her desire for facts over speculation. “I don’t want to point fingers,” she said.
“I want facts and accuracy.” She plans to hire a private investigator to help uncover what happened, admitting the uncertainty has left her feeling numb.
Further complicating the case is the absence of surveillance footage or any clues about how Matthew might have entered the school. Sophia also doubts her son would have climbed into the chimney, citing his fear of heights and aversion to fire and smoke.
“My son was afraid of heights, so him climbing up there? That is not my son,” she said.
“He hated fire. He hated smoke.
A chimney doesn’t jive with who he was.”
As the investigation continues, Matthew’s family holds onto hope for answers that might bring some measure of closure to their profound loss.