Body of missing man found stuffed inside chimney of Georgia home

Anthony Rumplik’s body was wrapped in a blanket and condition indicated he had been dead for several weeks

The body of a man who has been missing for weeks has been found stuffed inside the chimney of a Georgia home he was renting.

Police said the body of Anthony Rumplik, 43, who had been missing since late December, was found on Friday wrapped in a blanket and stuffed inside the chimney of a house in Macon.

Bibb County coroner Leon Jones said the condition of Mr Rumplik’s body indicated he had been dead for several weeks.

“The Macon County Fire Department had to take the chimney apart to get him out,” Mr Jones said on Monday.

The 43-year-old’s body was discovered after his roommate said he noticed a ladder leaning up against the house on Friday.

Mr Rumplik’s roommate said he climbed the ladder and discovered a blanket in the chimney.

It ended an almost month-long search for Mr Rumplik, which saw his family travel from Ohio to Macon to look for him.

The 43-year-old was reported missing on 1 January by his landlord, Mike Hammett, four days after his family said they last spoke to him.

Mr Hammett said he reported Mr Rumplik missing after he found the door to his rental house open and concluded it was suspicious.

He added that Mr Rumplik had lived with him and his family in Macon prior to his disappearance, according to WGXA.

Mr Rumplik’s sister, Marlo Rumplik, said her brother ended up in Macon after his motorcycle broke down and was stolen there during a trip to Florida last year, leaving him stranded.

At the time of the search, Ms Rumplik had criticised the sheriff’s department for not doing enough to look for her brother, saying they regarded him as “just another drug addict”.

Ms Rumplik said her brother was schizophrenic and suffered from kidney failure. She said he had been homeless for a time in Macon and had been repeatedly hospitalised.

An investigation into Mr Rumplik’s death is ongoing, with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation expected to conduct an autopsy in the coming weeks to determine the cause of death.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press