The medical examiner’s office in Philadelphia says a body found inside a warehouse has been identified as an escaped prisoner. Police have been searching for the prisoner since he escaped on Nov. 30. The death remains under investigation.
What to Know
- Philadelphia police announced earlier this week that the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office identified the body found inside a Philly warehouse as escaped prisoner Gino Hagenkotter.
- Hagenkotter escaped from custody on Nov. 30, 2023.
- The ME's office has now determined he died from drug usage.
Days after the body of escaped prisoner Gino Hagenkotter was discovered in a Kensington warehouse, the Philadelphia Health Department has revealed how he died.
Hagenkotter was found in the warehouse located on the 1100 block of East Venango Street just before 2:30 p.m. Monday, Philadelphia police said.
Investigators said they discovered a broken air vent and a fan pushed out with a ladder lying nearby, which they believe means Hagenkotter forced entry into the warehouse.
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The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office was able to identify the man as Hagenkotter by his fingerprints, officials said.
On Thursday, health officials revealed that the ME office determined Hagenkotter had died of a drug overdose, listing the cause of death as drug intoxication and manner of death as accidental. Hagenkotter was 34.
How did Gino Hagenkotter flee custody?
The Riverside Correctional Facility inmate was unaccounted for nearly two weeks after he escaped while working a detail assignment in the orchard behind the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Facility (PICC) at 8201 State Road shortly before noon on Thursday, Nov. 30, according to officials.
Hagenkotter asked a guard if he could use the bathroom and was allowed to do so, Philadelphia Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney said following the escape.
"This person was allowed to use the bathroom," Carney said. "The officer, when he determined that he did not return in sufficient time, it was then he went to that bathroom area and discovered that [Hagenkotter] had left the compound."
Carney said the officer alerted officials that Hagenkotter escaped. Officials searched through surveillance video and determined Hagenkotter had climbed a fence and escaped through the facility's sanitation yard that morning.
Hagenkotter's escape was the fourth breakout from a city lockup this year.
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