Union Square Trash Compactor Plunge Wasn’t Murder

No foul play is suspected in the death of the woman who fell down her Union Square building’s trash chute in July, the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said on December 19. The body of Lara Prychodko, 48, was discovered by a building maintenance worker inside the trash compactor at Zeckendorf Towers on the corner of Irving Place and E. 15th Street on July 10, police said. Authorities believe the woman dropped 27-stories in the chute. Her body was discovered “crushed from multiple angles” in the compactor. It was not immediately clear if Prychodko’s death was accidental or a homicide, authorities said at the time.