Police identify body found at gas station

Police released Monday the name of a man found dead at an eastside abandoned gas station Saturday morning.

Fernando Solarzano-Castaneda, 43, was found shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday lying in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station at the corner of East Third Street and Kingston Drive, BPD Lt. David Drake said, reading from a police report.

Police found a fifth of vodka and food on the ground next to the man’s body, Drake said. Police spoke with a clerk at the nearby Speedway gas station. The clerk told police the man came 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.