Revealed: Missing Man Fell Into Recycling Plant's Plastic Shredder, Coroner Says

Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon died while working at Industrial Recovery and Recycling in Greer, where his father is the supervisor, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said.

The coroner was called nearly a month after the young man was reported missing, The State reports, after the sheriff found and tested tissue discovered on a conveyor belt.

Dried blood at the scene helped in identifying the victim. A news release, per AP, said that the premises of the plant was searched four times; it was the third attempt, with the aid of a cadaver dog, that uncovered the partial remains. DNA samples matched those of the boy's parents.

"What we have tested and was positive came from under a support under the conveyor belt just after the plastic shredding machine," Clevenger reported, per WYFF.

The local sheriff's office said around 30 tons of plastic "had been processed between the time Gordon was noticed missing and when the first investigator arrived to inspect the machine."

Investigations from the local health and occupational safety organizations in addition to law enforcement are ongoing.

The Sheriff's Office would not say if the nature of the investigation was that of homicide or accidental, according to the Herald Journal.