Man found dead on I-70 likely overdose victim

A body found along Interstate 70 on the West Side Tuesday morning has been identified as a Columbus man whose body might have been dumped there after a drug overdose death.

Columbus police identified the man Wednesday as Robert Coleman. Police said that Coleman, 42, had not been struck by a vehicle and it appeared that his body had been “dumped after dying” from an overdose.

Multiple people had called 911 Tuesday morning to say a body was lying against the concrete median in the middle of I-70 east near the West Mound Street exit.

The first call was made at 7:36 a.m. The motorist told a dispatcher that he spotted the body on the left side of the road while driving roughly a quarter-mile past Cooper Stadium.

“It appears to be a body, but I can’t tell for sure,” he said.

The body appeared to be mostly unclothed, the caller said.

Several more people called over the next 20 minutes. Many of them said they couldn’t tell whether they saw a body or a mannequin.

“I’m fairly certain it’s a mannequin, but I just wanted to call it in,” one woman said.

Anyone with information about Coleman’s death should call the Columbus Police homicide unit at 614-645-4730 or contact detective Anne Pennington at apennington@columbuspolice.org.