Police released a photo of the dismantled chimney
HURON – The Fresno County Coroner’s Office has identified the Huron burglary suspect who died in a chimney as 19-year-old Cody Caldwell.
Investigators believe the teenager climbed into a chimney at a home on the 16000 block of West Gale Avenue in Huron on Friday night to rob the home, but became stuck. Caldwell was likely in the chimney for many hours by the time the male homeowner came home and lit a fire at around 3 p.m. on Saturday, authorities said.
The homeowner told investigators that when he started the fire in his fireplace, he heard a man yelling from inside the chimney and his house began to fill with smoke. The homeowner tried to put the fire out while he waited for firefighters to arrive.
Approximately 10 minutes after the initial call, the suspect appeared to still be breathing and moving inside the chimney, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department.
However, when the firefighters dismantled the chimney a short time later in an attempt to rescue the suspect, they discovered that he was dead, the sheriff’s department said.
