THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411110642
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
The state medical examiner said Thursday that a Virginia Beach woman whose body was found in the Hampton city landfill Wednesday was accidentally crushed to death.
Roza F. Parker, 48, was alive inside a garbage dumpster before being dumped into the back of a collection truck, where she was crushed to death. Police said Parker was known to rummage through dumpsters to look for salvageable items.
Parker is the third Hampton Roads person in less than two years to be discovered at a dump site after being crushed to death.
On July 22, the body of Jimmy L. Williams, 43, was discovered at the Newport News landfill. Workers discovered his crushed body after a garbage truck emptied its contents at the site off Warwick Boulevard.
Williams' death was also ruled accidental. Police speculated that the man had been looking for food or shelter inside one of the 64 dumpsters in the city.
In March 1993, the body of John E. Lewis, 51, of Suffolk was found at the Southeastern Public Service Authority trash-processing plant on Victory Boulevard in Portsmouth.
Lewis, of the 600 block of Ashley Avenue in Suffolk, was crushed to death inside a trash-compacting truck somewhere in Norfolk.
``All three had cervical spine fractures,'' said Leah Bush, a state medical examiner. Bush, urging the public to stay out of dumpsters, said the spinal-cord injuries inflicted by the mechanized compactor would kill instantly.
Friends of the dead woman have established a fund to help with burial costs and other expenses. Contributions to the Roza Parker Memorial Fund can be made at any Central Fidelity Bank branch.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL FATALITY by CNB