Police do not suspect foul play, but the investigation is ongoing, according to a press release from the department.
According to an email sent to the Lutheran Campus Ministries listserv from Blair Flent, president of the ministry, the deceased person was not a member of the ministry or the associated Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The statement also said the person did not appear to be a UNC student.
Police said the person was a man but have not released any additional identifying information about him.
Witnesses at the scene said the body was discovered between a dumpster in the parking lot of the church and a fence separating the parking lot from Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority house. The Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority house is located at 307 E. Franklin St. and its back fence is adjacent to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
“Cops keep walking back and forth along this path from the back of the house to the dumpster,” said MacKinsey Cole, a UNC sophomore who lives near the crime scene.
“It’s a really big shock to the Chapel Hill community,” said Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority president Emily Bell. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”
Sigma Sigma Sigma’s house mother, Gail Miller, said she saw the body from her apartment window.
“What I noticed first from my window was that one side was open on the dumpster, which was unusual,” said Miller. “When I looked out the window all I could see was a man lying there and it looked like salt and pepper hair. He was face down.”
