By Shereen Siewert

A 39-year-old man with no fixed address was found dead under the deck of a home on Wausau’s north side this winter, on a windy morning in which temperatures dipped into the teens.

The death is one of two reported this winter involving Wausau’s unhoused community. Neither death was attributed directly to homelessness, though advocates say a lack of shelter played a role in each circumstance.

Police in Wausau were called the morning of Feb. 21 to a home in the 1200 block of N. First Avenue where a resident discovered a man lying face down underneath a porch. The weather was brisk and windy, about 15 degrees when officers arrived to find the man clearly deceased. No lifesaving measures were performed.

Footprints at the home suggested the man initially tried to enter a detached garage, which was locked, before crawling under the porch. In subsequent interviews, police learned the man had potentially been secretly sleeping in a different homeowner’s garage but had been barred from some living spaces.

An autopsy performed in Madison did not find any physical evidence of a cause of death. But multiple drugs including fentanyl, methadone and methamphetamine were discovered in the man’s system, according to a Wausau Police Department supplemental report.

Police Chief Ben Bliven told Wausau Pilot & Review the man’s death has been ruled accidental.

In February, police officially released incident reports related to the December death of a woman who was living under a city bridge. The 55-year-old woman’s autopsy results showed she died of methamphetamine toxicity, though Bliven in January acknowledged that the death was likely complicated by living outdoors in harsh elements.

According to the police report, officers and rescue workers responded in the early morning hours Dec. 5 to a makeshift tent under the Scott Street Bridge after the woman’s partner called for help. In the approximate 6-foot by 5-foot tent, which was filled with blankets, groceries, food and other items, paramedics confirmed the woman was not breathing, was stiff and did not have a pulse. Her body was released to the medical examiner’s office.

Sandi Kelch, executive director of the Marathon County Community Outreach Task Force, said how the woman died is irrelevant.

“She died under a bridge, when we have the means to properly house human beings,” Kelch, who has spoken publicly at numerous city meetings in recent months, said in February.

Meanwhile, city leaders in Wausau continue to grapple with finding solutions to homelessness as an affordable housing crisis grows.