IL - Trash chute claims second victim in year in Chicago Gold Coast high rise

Elderly woman found dead at the bottom of her building's trash chute just
one year after a teenage boy died accidentally falling down the same disposal
(Daily Mail)

The body of an elderly woman was found Monday at the bottom of the trash chute in her Chicago high rise building.

Florence Banta, 80, had been reported missing on Saturday and a building engineer discovered her body on Monday.

She is the second person in two years to have fallen down and died in the trash chute at this building in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.

Ms Banta lived on the 17th floor of the building, and the county coroner will be going through a full autopsy today to determine the cause of death.
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In February 2012, a teenager named Charlie Manley was found dead at the bottom of the same trash chute after he accidentally fell into the chute.

The 17-year-old suffered from autism and Down Syndrome. He lived with his parents in a duplex on the 46th and 47th floors.
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details and video at the link above

Wth..

hmmmm i grew up in NYC. one would really have to try to maneuver them self into a garbage shoot. think angle of a US postal mailbox.

depends on the chute and its design. I know the style you speak of gooniequeen, and agree, that style, it would take some work.

If it is simply a door that opens to a long drop to the basement I could see it, but a "chute" style chute is more like what I think you and I are imagining, and yeah, that is a tough one to see as an accident. Because the style of chute I am picturing has a door that door is hinged at the bottom and has a metal plate along the bottom which the items are deposited into - closing the door swings the items into the chute area allowing them to drop from the metal bottom plate which held them when the door was in the open position.

One question I do have regardless of the style of chute we are talking about here is, if this chute has already claimed one life a year ago, why was the chute not redesigned or taken out to address the problem then? Why is it still capable of causing harm or death now, today?

I am thinking this may have become a convenient way for someone to die by "accident"

How large are these chutes that people can just fall right in? I imagine the "tube" would have to be fairly wide so there arent constant clogs right? how are clogs handled? that would have to be one large poking stick! Are they in each apartment or one per floor? Do they have locks? I can imagine small children would be fascinated by something like that, mine would at least!

I've never lived anywhere with one (never even seen one! had to google for a general idea) so forgive my questions if they seem obvious.

Chicago Tribune (with WGN video):

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As a high-rise resident herself, [Ms. Banta's daughter, Barbara] Laken said she had always noticed that the trash chute in her mother's building was "abnormally large."

"Most buildings in Chicago you can't fit a loaf of bread through the trash chute," Laken said. "This one is amazingly huge. It's 4 feet off the ground and very, very wide. You could fit a grown man's body through it."
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much more here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...te-fall-neighborhood-20130401,0,6289965.story