Dead Body Found Inside Wenatchee Trap House
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office is investigating after the discovery of a dead man inside a Wenatchee residence yesterday (Thursday, Nov. 30).
The body of 41-year-old Leon Prokopioff of Cashmere was found during a multi-agency sweep of the house on Terminal Avenue.
"Patrol and eventually detectives responded to the residence and found a deceased male upstairs," says Sgt. Chris Foreman. "He had been there for more than a few days when his body was discovered."
Foreman says the house had been identified as a nuisance property and the county's response was organized to abate and board up the residence to prevent it from being illegally occupied in the future.
"The residence was known as a flop house or a trap house where people come and go to use drugs or are homeless and don't have a place to stay. There'd been calls about the house generated earlier this year about people running extension cords to neighboring properties and stealing electricity and some other complaints."
The house has not had running water or electricity for almost two years, and also had no sanitation services which Foreman says led to a pickup truck-sized pile of garbage and refuse in the property's yard.
The sheriff's office says Prokopioff likely died of a drug overdose and his death is not being labeled as suspicious.
Chelan County Code Enforcement, the Chelan County Fire Marshal, Chelan County Building Officials, and the Chelan-Douglas Health District all assisted in the effort.
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