A body discovered in the chimney of a Baltimore County elementary school was identified Thursday as that of a missing teen, police said.
The body of 19-year-old Zachary Scott Miller was found Wednesday at Riverview Elementary School in Landsdowne by workers who had noticed a foul smell and flies in that area for days, a police spokesman said. The workers found the decomposed remains feet-first in the chimney after they opened an access hatch and peered inside, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey said. Police were called at around 4:30 p.m., he said, and it took a fire department unit about 45 minutes to break down the brick and get to the body. Meanwhile, Miller?s family heard about the discovery of human remains near his home on Winsap Court, and went to the school to find out whether the body found was his, Toohey said.
Authorities couldn?t immediately tell whether the remains were those of a woman or a man, he said. The medical examiner later identified Miller through fingerprints, police announced Thursday afternoon. Police said there were no signs of trauma or injury, and that additional tests must be performed to determine the cause and manner of his death. Miller went missing July 26, less than a week after he was robbed of cash and a pocket knife and warned not to tell anyone.
Police issued a series of alerts urging the public for information about his disappearance. A juvenile has been arrested in connection with the robbery and four other arrests in that case followed this week, police said. The adults arrested were: Antoine Mauning, 21, of the 4100 block of South Stricker Street; Scott Snyder, 21, of the 100 block of South Carrollton Avenue; Dennis Eric Morris, 21, of the unit block of Silerton Road; and Staci Michelle Emge, 26, of the same address, police said Thursday.
