Woman found dead inside rubbish chute

Police are investigating after a woman was found dead in the rubbish chute of a New York apartment building.

The gruesome discovery was made in the compactor room of Zeckendorf Towers, an upmarket Manhattan apartment complex whose past residents include former congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin, a top Hillary Clinton aide.

The woman, identified as a 48-year-old resident of the building “was discovered unconscious and unresponsive inside the trash compactor by an employee of the building”, ABC reports.

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Residents were warned not to use their rubbish chutes as police and paramedics descended on the address. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators have not yet established whether the woman’s death was intentional or an accident, CBS reports, but she was seen alone on surveillance video shortly before she is thought to have ended up in the chute.

A colleague of the employee who discovered the body told the New York Daily News that she went “down the chute and slid down like garbage”.

The paper also reports that the victim’s handbag was found discarded by a lift inside the 29-storey building.

A doorman told the newspaper that the woman, whose name has not been made public, was “very pleasant” and seemed “happy”.