A man whose body was found between two walls in the basement of a nightclub more than a year after he went missing likely passed out and stopped breathing, an autopsy report says.
Winnipeg police spokesman Constable Bob Johnson said Eduardo Sanchez, a part-time disc jockey at Village Cabaret, died of positional asphyxiation. Mr. Sanchez, 21, was lodged in such a way in a V-shaped space between the walls that the weight of his body prevented him from breathing.
It's believed he passed out there after crawling inside on his own. What police don't know is why Mr. Sanchez would climb between the walls, a false drywall in front of the basement foundation.
Tissue samples from the autopsy will be sent for forensic examination to see if he had been using street drugs before his disappearance.
No drugs were found in his clothing or behind the wall, however it's believed he was using drugs before he went missing.
Police had been called to the popular nightclub, the last place Mr. Sanchez was seen, due to complaints of an odour coming from the basement of the cabaret, which had recently changed its name from the Collective Cabaret.
"Sometimes it reeked of sewage when you came in in the morning," said Kerrie Drine, a business owner in a neighbouring building. She said most people thought the stench was caused by spilled beer and cigarette smoke from the Toad in the Hole Pub and the cabaret.
However, when the city's smoking ban came into force in September, more people became aware of the smell. Mr. Sanchez, also known as DJ Phonosys and Grandmasta Sanchez, was last seen by friends in the early morning of Oct. 12, 2002.
He made an $80 withdrawal from his bank account at 12:48 a.m. from a banking machine in the front entrance of the Collective Cabaret. At about 2:45 a.m., he spoke with three friends in a vehicle parked on Osborne Street. They invited him to a house party, but he refused and was last seen walking back toward the Collective.