Jan. 14--The cause of death for three men discovered in a vacant building in the Avondale neighborhood was cold exposure, according to autopsies performed Wednesday.
The three were found about 11:15 a.m. Monday in the 3300 block of North Harding Avenue, police said.
The men were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Two of them appeared to be in their 40s and the third in his 50s. Their names have not been released.
Autopsies conducted on all three men determined that they died of hypothermia due to cold exposure. A secondary cause of death was alcohol intoxication, according to the office. The deaths were listed as accidental.
According to the office there have been 14 cold-related deaths this season.
Neighbors said the three were among homeless men who spent the summers in nearby parks or in gangways and spent their winters squatting wherever they could stay warm.
Luis Echevarra, 47, a neighbor who lives a block away, said he tried to get them to go to a shelter and bought them food occasionally.
"I can't do much for them if they don't do nothing for themselves," he said.
The men began squatting in the wood frame house next door shortly after a family moved out, according to two girls who were throwing snowballs in front of a house next door Monday evening. One of the girls' family members had called police, afraid to have the men living nearby.
