Missing man’s body found stuffed in chimney a month after mysterious screams

Zachariah Andrews’ (right) body was found in a chimney after a maintenance worker discovered a shoe in an apartment building (left) in Norfolk, Nebraska (Pictures: News Channel Nebraska/Facebook)

The body of a missing man was found inside a chimney more than a month after mysterious screams for help were heard coming from the building.

Zachariah Andrews, 29, was discovered on October 19 after a maintenance worker at an apartment building in Norfolk, Nebraska, spotted what looked like a shoe dangling from the chimney amid a foul odor.

Andrews was identified using an ID card he had on him, as well as tattoos, scars and marks, police Capt Michael Bauer said on Wednesday. 

Cops were in communication with Andrews’ family since the start of the investigation, Bauer told the Norfolk Daily News.

Zachariah Andrews had a warrant out for him on seven counts of violating a protection order (Picture: Madison County Sheriff’s Department)

Back on September 16, a tenant at the apartment building located at 1414 S Third St called cops to report screams from a man that seemed to be on the first floor.

The tenant told arriving officers that he heard the yelling three to four minutes before they got to the scene, and that it then stopped. Cops spoke with three other residents including those living under the tenant who called, and no one else heard the screams, Bauer said. They also checked on a unit that had a TV on at a high volume.

Cops told the caller to contact them if the yelling started again.

A maintenance worker found a shoe dangling from the chimney of an apartment building (Picture: News Channel Nebraska)

Four days later, Andrews’ vehicle received a parking warning on the 300 block of Northwestern Avenue, which is close to the apartment complex.

A missing person report on Andrews was filed on October 3 and sent to the national database, Bauer said. The same day, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for Andrews’ arrest on seven counts of violating a protection order.

Andrews was last seen on September 15 around noon on the 1200 block of West Norfolk Avenue, according to the report.

Zachariah Andrews was last seen on September 15 (Picture: Facebook)

Over the past few months, Andrews detailed on Facebook his attempts to reach a woman and claimed that cops took ‘love letters’ he wrote to her, the New York Post reported. Andrews admitted that his aspirations of getting her ‘weren’t realistic’ but in May wrote, ‘I kinda wanna prove them wrong tho.’

Andrews’ death may have been an accident, Bauer said.

An investigation into his death is ongoing.

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The body of Zachariah Andrews, 29, was found in the chimney of an apartment building in Norfolk, Nebraska.