Matthew Collado’s body found
By SyndicatedNews True Crime | SNN.BZ
The decomposing body of a twenty-nine-year-old Queens aspiring rapper was found stuffed inside a school chimney in late June, after weeks of mystery and a mother’s desperate search.
Matthew Collado, who performed under the name A.K. Nash and posted beats and tracks on SoundCloud, vanished from his home in May on the day before Mother’s Day.
His mother, Sophia Wood, plastered missing-person flyers across the neighborhood and prayed for answers that never came quickly enough.
On June thirtieth, an exterminator called to investigate a foul odor at P.S. slash I.S. one thirteen known as the Anthony J. Pranzo School in Glendale, opened the ash dump and found a shoe, then a foot.
The school was closed for summer construction, with no students or staff inside.
Collado was last captured on surveillance video leaving his apartment in Jamaica, Queens, at three twenty-two in the morning on May ninth.
He had texted his mother the day before, promising to meet her at the nursing home where his grandmother lived to celebrate Mother’s Day, but he never showed.
Wood reported him missing right away and began putting up flyers around Jamaica and other neighborhoods where people claimed to have spotted him. Before his disappearance he had been preparing to start a new job as a residential aide at a Breaking Ground shelter, while still pouring his energy into music.
It took nearly a month after the discovery for the body to be identified. On July twenty-first officials collected DNA from the family, and eight days later the Medical Examiner’s office confirmed through dental records that the remains belonged to Collado.
Wood has stressed that her son was afraid of heights and hated fire and smoke, making the chimney location deeply confusing to her. She told reporters there are no cameras, no videos, and no footage showing how he got into the school or ended up inside the chimney.
The cause, date, and manner of death all remain undetermined, according to the city medical examiner’s office. Wood says she walks around in a daze and still cannot believe it, describing a void in her gut that has not gone away.
She plans to hire a private investigator and says she will not rest until she knows exactly how her son died. For now the family can only listen to his SoundCloud tracks to hear his voice, while the case continues to baffle investigators and leave them searching for answers.
