Marion County Coroner Claude Howell says an 80-year-old Kinmundy man fell to his death on Wednesday at a maintenance building on Hotze Road north of Salem.
Howell pronounced William Hawkey dead at the scene from blunt force trauma to the head.
The coroner reports Hawkey had placed a ladder up against the building to go onto the roof to remove some tree limbs. While he was on the roof, he is believed to have walked onto a skylight and fell 20 feet to the packed rock floor of the building.
Howell believes the incident occurred between one and three Wednesday afternoon, but his body was not discovered until eight Wednesday night when a relative went to the site due to Hawkey not returning home.
Howell says Hawkey maintained the building and some oil wells for the out of state property owner.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Department and United Medical Response assisted at the scene.
