Dead Man Rides Subway for 6 Hours

Man Found Dead On NYC Subway May Have Been Dead For Hours

POSTED: 11:15 am EST January 20, 2006

NEW YORK -- A man was found dead on a New York City subway car during morning rush hour, and his lifeless body may have ridden on the train for about six hours.

The body of Eugene Reilly, 64, was discovered shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday in the last car of the Q subway train in the 14th Street-Union Square station, said James Anyansi, a NYC Transit spokesman.

The train was evacuated while emergency medical technicians were called to the scene.

There were no signs of foul play or injuries, and an autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause and time of death, authorities said.

Reilly, a Postal Service employee, typically worked a 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. shift as a mail handler in midtown Manhattan. If Reilly left work at the usual time and died during the 35-minute trip home to Brooklyn, then his body could have been on the train for more than six hours before being noticed.

In June 1999, the body of a man was found on a No. 1 train. He apparently had been dead for five hours before anyone noticed.