Man found dead near drug paraphernalia alongside Kennedy Expressway

A man was found dead with drug paraphernalia Thursday next to the Kennedy Expressway in Old Irving Park on the Northwest Side.

Illinois State Police officers on patrol discovered the person about 4:40 p.m. in a grassy area south of I-90 near Pulaski Road, according to Trooper Woodrow Montgomery.

The officers “observed syringe needles and other drug paraphernalia” around him, Montgomery said.

The male, identified as 56-year-old Timothy Reger of South Loop, was dead at the scene, according to state police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His autopsy results were pending on Friday afternoon.

State police, Chicago police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration have not determined whether the death is connected to a series of 17 overdoses linked to a tainted batch of heroin that left four people dead on the city’s North and Northwest sides since Tuesday.