Dried blood found at a recycling plant is that of a 20-year-old who was reported missing there two months ago, a South Carolina coroner said.

Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon, of Greer, was reported missing in early May from the recycling plant where his father is a supervisor.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said Gordon apparently fell into the plastic shredder where he was working on May 5, the last time he was seen, news agencies reported.

The machine at Industrial Recycling and Recovery Inc. was inspected four times, the first by Gordon's father, Clevenger said in a news release Wednesday. The material was found during the third search, which included a cadaver dog. He said the sample's DNA fit with that of Gordon's parents, WSB-TV reported.

"What we have tested and was positive came from under a support under the conveyor belt just after the plastic shredding machine," he wrote, according to WYFF-TV.

Clevenger said sheriff's deputies were told that about 30 tons (27 metric tons) of plastic "had been processed between the time Gordon was noticed missing and when the first investigator arrived to inspect the machine."

The South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office have both been investigating, news agencies reported.

The Sheriff's Office would not comment on the nature of the death and did not say if it was being investigated as an accidental death or a homicide, the Herald-Journal reported.

The newspaper said Duncan's father declined to comment when contacted via Facebook.

First published on July 8, 2022 / 2:33 PM

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