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Man Dead In Hyde Park Hazmat Situation Was Homebrewer

By  Sam Cholke and Kelly Bauer | April 26, 2017 8:21am | Updated on April 26, 2017 1:46pm

 Hazmat teams responded to a situation in Hyde Park early Wednesday and found a man dead in his apartment, officials said.
Hazmat teams responded to a situation in Hyde Park early Wednesday and found a man dead in his apartment, officials said.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — A man was found dead in his Hyde Park apartment early Wednesday in a situation that required a hazardous materials team to respond.

Zackary Padove, 25, was found in his apartment when police arrived at 2:30 a.m. at the building in the 1200 block of East 53rd Street, authorities said.

Police noticed an unusual smell, and the Chicago Fire Department brought in a hazmat team to manage a potentially toxic situation.

Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department, said Padove's mother called the police when she found him unconscious.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified Padove. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was a veterinary technician assistant at the nearby Hyde Park Animal Clinic since 2008.

Padove, according to his personal website and homebrewers forums, was interested in brewing beer in his home, as well as in fermented foods like Korean kimchi and kombucha.

"There were other things going on in there," Langford said.

He said police were treating the apartment as a crime scene, and state agencies were being called in to help investigate.

"If anyone goes back in there, they will probably be masked up and suited up," Langford said.

He declined to say what the specific danger was, but said the other tenants in the building were never in any danger and likely would be able to re-enter the building.

The Chicago Fire Department was wrapping up its investigation at 10 a.m., with a single sample of possibly illegal substances from the apartment being analyzed by firefighters and police, according to Langford.

Padove's body remained in the apartment, and police were expected to continue their investigation into the afternoon.