SC father begins sad process of declaring son dead after shredder accident

The father of a man presumed to have fallen into a shredding machine at a Greer plant has begun the process of declaring his son dead.

Attorney Charles Hodge, who is representing Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon’s father, filed a petition in Spartanburg County Probate Court June 29, seeking a declaration of death. If granted, it would allow a death certificate to be issued by the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

A hearing date on the request has not been set, according to the Probate Court.

Hodge has also filed a claim with the South Carolina Workers Compensation Commission.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger could not issue a death certificate in the case because a body was never found. DNA from small pieces of a body found near a shredding machine at Industrial Recovery and Recycling in Greer matched Gordon’s parents.

Gordon, 20, known as Alex, had been missing since May 5 while he worked the night shift alongside his father, Mike Gordon, who was a supervisor at the plant until a few days after his son went missing.

Alex Gordon left for a meal break, clocked back in and was last seen on top of a shredding machine. The noise in the room where the machine is so loud no one could have heard if any cries for help were made.

Clevenger closed the case earlier this month.

Asked about the case status, Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Kevin Bobo said Wednesday it is an active investigation. He did not elaborate on what investigators were looking into.

In a news release, Clevenger said his office was called on June 10 after tissue found on a conveyor belt by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s deputies matched the DNA of Gordon’s parents.

The shredder had been checked by Mike Gordon, a uniformed patrol supervisor with the Sheriff’s Office, sheriff’s, investigators and a cadaver K-9, and then again when material was found under the conveyor belt.

The coroner’s office recovered material from under a support for the conveyor belt that moves the plastic material to another machine for further processing.

A forensic anthropologist and a forensic pathologist hired by the coroner’s office examined the material and subsequently looked at the shredding machine.

The machine has been shut down and turned back on multiple times and 60,000 pounds of plastic material have been processed since Gordon went missing.

“I can confirm the material is consistent with human fat, microscopically minute particles of skin and small pieces of bone,” Clevenger said.

He said about 2 ounces of material was recovered. Gordon weighed between 210 and 250 pounds, the coroner said.

OSHA is investigating whether there were any safety violations. An OSHA spokesperson said such a review takes at least eight weeks.

The owners of Industrial Recovery and Recycling have not returned calls.

This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 12:17 PM.