Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon died inside South Carolina factory shredder

A 20-year-old man missing since early May fell into a factory shredder and was killed by the heavy-duty machinery at the South Carolina recycling plant where he worked, a report said.

Fractions of human remains found near the plastic shredder were matched to Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon, of Greer, who was last seen alive feeding plastic into the machine during his night shift on May 5, according to The State.

Investigators found small pieces of human fat and bone on and under a conveyor belt that feeds the shredded plastic to another machine, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a news release cited by the outlet.

The remains belong to Gordon, Clevenger confirmed.

He said the plastic shredder had been inspected at least four times after the worker went missing.

The first search was done by Gordon’s own father, who is the supervisor of the recycling plant. After his inspection turned up seemingly nothing, the machine was started again.

The machine processed about 30 tons of plastic between the time that Gordon was noticed missing and it was first inspected by an investigator, Clevenger said.

It was stopped and inspected by the local sheriff’s office after the missing persons report was filed and again days later when sheriffs returned with cadaver-sniffing dogs.

A small amount of human remains was found at that point and fit with the DNA of Gordon’s parents.

Investigators with the coroner’s office performed another inspection on June 14 in which they collected more body matter, which the office then matched to Gordon, Clevenger said.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration are each investigating the workplace death.

The sheriff’s office would not tell local reporters if Gordon’s death was being investigated as an accidental death or a homicide, according to Greenville News.

With Post wires