{"id":349690,"date":"2026-09-17T22:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349690\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:42:12","slug":"man-whose-decomposed-body-was-found-stuffed-in-nyc-school-chimney-idd-as-aspiring-rapper-afraid-of-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349690\/","title":{"rendered":"Man whose decomposed body was found stuffed in NYC school chimney ID’d as aspiring rapper ‘afraid of heights’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man whose badly decomposed body was found stuffed in a Queens public school chimney<\/a> has been identified as an aspiring rapper who \u201cwas afraid of heights\u201d and hates fire and smoke, according to cops and his mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rotting body of Matthew Collado, 29, was discovered on June 30 wedged into the smokestack at P.S.\/I.S. 113 Anthony J. Pranzo at 87 Street and 78 Avenue in Glendale \u2013 all because an exterminator went to investigate a putrid odor, according to authorities and sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About a month later, Collado\u2018s grieving mother, Sophia Wood, learned the remains were in fact her son\u2019s, The Daily News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew Collado, 29, has been identified as the man whose decaying body was discovered inside a chimney at P.S.\/I.S. 113 Anthony J. Pranzo in late June. Victoria Rodney \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a void in my gut,\u201d Wood told the paper. \u201cI walk around in a daze. I still haven\u2019t believed it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner\u2019s office confirmed Thursday that the cause and manner of Collado\u2019s death are both \u201cpending further study. \u201c<\/p>\n

Wood told the paper she hadn\u2019t heard from her son since the day before Mother\u2019s Day, when he said he\u2019d spend the holiday with her at his grandmother\u2019s nursing home \u2013 but never showed up.<\/p>\n

She soon plastered missing person\u2019s flyers around the neighborhood and began probing for any answers online.<\/p>\n

Collado\u2019s cause of death has still not been determined, leaving his grieving mom desperate for answers. Victoria Rodney \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

The lack of closure has left Wood so desperate for any information that she plans to hire a private investigator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cops have nothing. There\u2019s no cameras. There\u2019s no videos. No footage of how he ended up there, how he got into the school,\u201d Wood told The News. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son was afraid of heights so him climbing up there? That is not my son,\u201d said Wood. \u201cHe hates fire. He hates smoke. A chimney? It doesn\u2019t jive with my son and who he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

An exterminator found the body while investigating reports of a foul odor emanating from the school\u2019s chimney. Peter Gerber for NY Post<\/p>\n

Collado, raised in East Elmhurst, had planned to begin a new job as a residential aide at a Breaking Ground shelter, according to his mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was also an aspiring rapper whose stage name was A.K. Nash. He posted some of his songs on SoundCloud, his mom told the paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I hear his voice now,\u201d the bereaved mom said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A pest control worker discovered Collado\u2019s remains when a janitor called him to investigate a stench emanating from the chimney, according to authorities and law enforcement sources.<\/p>\n

The exterminator opened the ash dump and found a shoe \u2013 around size 9 or 10 \u2013 then felt a foot inside, according to the sources and the custodian, Brendan Chavez.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was unclear how long the body had been stuck inside the chimney before it was found \u2014 but students said the rancid smell had been in the air for weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation into the shocking death is ongoing, the NYPD said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man whose badly decomposed body was found stuffed in a Queens public school chimney has been identified…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1015,57,7373,9,56,63,65,64,8192,209,122,58],"class_list":["post-349690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-deaths","tag-metro","tag-missing-persons","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-police-investigations","tag-public-schools","tag-queens","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}