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A former University of Maine student was found dead Oct. 10 in Billings, Mont., after being crushed by a garbage truck that emptied a trash bin where he had been sleeping.
Adam Davis, formerly an English student at UMaine, was 22 years old when he was killed while sleeping in a Dumpster. Billings Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Connell said Davis had likely been sleeping in the Dumpster to avoid the cold weather. Through investigation police discovered he was still partially in a sleeping bag when he died.
Davis was enrolled at UMaine in fall 2007 and fall 2008 until spring 2009, according to Director of University Relations Joe Carr. Davis was a former Orono High School student and Orono resident, according to Sergeant Scott Scripture at the Orono Police Department.
“It’s an absolutely horrific accident,” O’Connell said. “It wasn’t until the autopsy was done that we could confirm that what we believed happened.”
The cause of death was blunt force injury to the chest, according to Chad Fehr, Yellowstone County deputy coroner. Police identified Davis through court documents and a booking photo from North Dakota, according to Fehr. Davis reportedly didn’t have shoes on and was found with a backpack.
O’Connell said the garbage truck operator checked the vehicle’s blade after completing his route and “opened the side compartment and saw the victim inside.” Medical services were immediately called, but Davis was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Basically, we got the report on the 10th at about 6:22 in the morning. One of our solid waste employees was doing a route and he had one of those trucks that are single-manned where they pick up the dumpsters and they kind of flip them over the top,” O’Connell said.
Orono and Billings police declined to give the names of Davis’ family, but Fehr said Davis’ mother hadn’t seen him for two years.
“This situation was an extreme tragedy,” said Jane Forrester, whose daughter knew Davis.
Forrester said she received an e-mail from Davis two weeks before he died in which he said he was going to Oregon to work on an organic farm. She said she has been to Billings and that “there’s no doorways to even curl up in.”
“If this had happened in Orono, people would be horrified,” Forrester said.
Forrester said Davis was involved in journalism and wanted to go on to graduate school. Davis wrote for The Maine Campus in 2007.
A commenter identified as “Mainah” on the Billings Gazette Web site said he or she knew Davis.
“He was a very close friend of my daughter’s. We’ve known him since he was 11 years old. There was tragedy in his life. His mother kicked him out of the house when he was 16 years old. He slept many nights in our family room, and he was always very grateful for whatever was given to him. I observed a slow decline in his mental wellbeing since that time. A recklessness and lack of caring for himself that undoubtedly led to his demise,” the commenter said.
Sanford Phippen, a part-time English department faculty member, said he taught Davis as a freshman and sophmore at Orono High School. He described Davis as enthusiastic and creative.
“He was very good. … Very willing to do anything,” Phippen said.
Friends of Davis plan to hold a memorial for him Oct. 25 at the Keith Anderson Community Center in Orono. It will involve food, poetry, music and dancing, according to Aya Mares, a friend of Davis.
Billings police searched 35 other dumpsters before they ruled Davis’ death an accident, O’Connell said.
