Tuesday, December 24th 2013, 12:35 pm
The body of a homeless man was found Tuesday morning and Tulsa police say it appears he died in the cold late Monday not far from the busy intersection of Admiral and Memorial.
Tulsa fighters were delivering meals to a homeless camp and they found the dead man in a tent, with signs of hypothermia just after 11 a.m.
Police have not released his name and aren't sure when he died.
Eddie Almeeo works at the car wash just across the fence from where the man's body was found and says the homeless constantly come and go.
"I don't know what's going on back there, I really don't, but he's not the only one there's 3 or 4 of them back there. It's sad," said Eddie Almeeo.
The homeless camp is on an embankment above I-244. Thousands of drivers pass by each day but they can't see what's up there - and though there's a busy gas station just steps away - the homeless camp is where most people would never notice.
Tulsa Police at the scene said there were no obvious signs of anything other than hypothermia.
Tulsa has three primary shelters for the homeless - John 3:16, the Salvation Army and the Day Center for the Homeless.
People who serve the homeless say there's no need for anyone to stay outside.
"When the weather is at its coldest, there are always places that people can go to stay inside. Unfortunately there are some, we call them the hardcore homeless, who just like to stay outside. Many of them have some survival skills so they usually do pretty well, but sometime they stay out and it doesn't end well," said Eric Costanzo, First Baptist Caring Center.
It was 14 degrees late Monday and early Tuesday and the man who died appeared to have little protection from the weather.
Almeeo says he couldn't believe someone would stay out there in the cold.
"It's sad that today someone passed away today in this weather, when they could go somewhere else to get shelter," said Eddie Almeeo.
Tulsa Police know the identity of the man and are trying to locate his next of kin to tell them what happened.
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