Hanging decorations 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Nine-story fall kills Aurora man
Hanging decorations: New apartment resident was putting up Halloween lights
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By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
AURORA — A new resident of a high-rise apartment building near Phillips Park fell to his death Thursday morning after losing his balance while hanging Halloween decorations from his ninth-floor balcony.
Claude W. Odle, 34, who moved into the Park Terrace Apartments four weeks ago, was pronounced dead at the scene after plunging nine stories just before 9 a.m. Aurora police received a call of a man down in the 1000 block of Howell Place on the southeast side and originally thought it was a suicide, but the evidence soon pointed to an accident.
Odle, a personal fitness trainer who moved to Aurora from Orland Park, apparently was hanging orange icicle-type string lights from his balcony ceiling just before he fell. Half the string of lights was hung when police arrived, with the second half left dangling.
Aurora Police Lt. William Powell said Odle might have been standing on a plastic chair while hanging the lights and lost his balance. Police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said it's also possible Odle was standing on the balcony ledge.
Odle missed the awning nine floors straight down and landed on a sidewalk near the circular driveway, away from the building.
Powell said the items Odle left on the balcony, including more Halloween decorations he apparently planned to put up, were the first indication he had not committed suicide.
"He's got scissors and tape right over the other side," Powell said. "It appears he was putting up lights and down he came."
Property Manager John Peters said Odle moved into the 11-floor apartment building Oct. 3. His last listed address was in Orland Park, and he lived in Indiana prior to that.
Odle planned to find work as a fitness trainer in the area, Peters said.
Peters said Odle had an ex-wife and children in Indiana and had custody of the kids every other weekend. He was a kickboxer who lived alone but had a girlfriend in the area, Peters said.
Though tenants' leases forbid them to hang anything from the balconies at Park Terrace, maintenance workers often have to ask residents to remove hanging plants, Peters said.
"We tell all the tenants not to hang anything from their balconies, but they don't listen," he said. "Most of them climb out here on the balcony and think, 'I can do it.' "
Powell said there were no witnesses to the accident. There were no outward indications, such as a note, that he committed suicide.
Odle's apartment was mostly empty except for a few pieces of furniture and pictures of his three children, Powell said.
Erin Dickens, 28, who lives two floors up from Odle, said he at first thought someone fell from the roof of the building because crews have been putting cellular towers up there the past few weeks.
"They encourage us not to put too many things on the balcony," Dickens said. "That's why I was surprised he was hanging them from there."
Robert Rodriguez, who lives in a neighboring apartment on the ninth floor, said he never spoke to Odle because he moved in so recently. He found out about the accident from a neighbor who filled him in when he got home late Thursday afternoon.
Rodriguez said it's common for tenants to hang plants on their balconies, but not as far out as Odle was hanging the Halloween lights.
So as a fitness trainer/kickboxer first off he should have some sort of balance. Then on top of it we have it being against the complex's rules to hang things..and beyond that he decides to string the lights in such a position that it is "further" out than what most people put decorations.
Submitted on 10/31/2003
Submitted by:
Anonymous
Reference:
Beacon News 10/31/03
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