73-Year-Old Trapped for 3 Days : Signals Unheeded, Man Dies in Trash Can

A 73-year-old man was found dead in a garbage can on his front porch, where police believe he had been stuck for three days while waving for help.

Robert Hamm waved to a mailman and a newspaper carrier while in the trash can earlier this week but may have been too weak to alert them that he was stuck, police said today.

“I would imagine he was trying to signal something, but his expression or whatever wasn’t enough to get them to do anything about it,” Sgt. R. J. Liepins said. “They all feel very bad.”

The 11-year-old newspaper carrier, who had waved back to Hamm on Monday, found that he was dead on Wednesday.

Hamm, who was of medium height and build, apparently fell backward into the standard-size metal trash can on his enclosed porch and couldn’t get out, Liepins said. He was found in the can up to his armpits, with his legs sticking out.

On Tuesday, the mail carrier saw Hamm in the can from outside the porch and saw his hand move, Liepins said. “He thought something was funny . . . but he just let it pass,” Liepins said.