Police ID man found dead at 3rd Street gas station

The man who was found dead at an east side abandoned gas station Saturday morning has been identified.

Authorities recently identified the man as Fernando Solarzano-Castaneda, age 43.

Bloomington Police Department Sgt. John Kovach responded just after 4 a.m. Saturday to a call of an unconscious man lying in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station at East Third Street and Kingston Drive, according to a police report.

Police found a fifth of vodka and food on the ground next to the man’s body, said BPD Lt. David Drake.

Police spoke with a clerk at the Speedway gas station nearby. The clerk told police the man comes in to the gas station frequently, and he had been inside purchasing a hot dog only about 20 minutes before police arrived.

The clerk said he noticed the man was intoxicated, and when he left the store, he dropped his hot dog in the parking lot, Drake said, reading from a police report.

Police said there were no signs of foul play or trauma. Monroe County Coroner Jerry Reed said the cause of death was choking on food, with intoxication as a contributing circumstance.