ROCHESTER — Police and the state’s medical examiner are working to identify a body found Saturday inside part of the hydro-electric plant within the Wyandotte Falls Apartments complex.

According to Capt. Jason Thomas, police were called around 1:37 p.m. Saturday after a Woodsville Rochester Hydro Associates worker discovered the body in a room that “has not been in use for some time.”

Woodsville operates a hydro-electric plant within Wyandotte Falls, a 72-unit, Rochester Housing Authority-run apartment complex off Bridge Street between North Main Street and the Cocheco River in downtown Rochester. Woodsville manager Ian Clark said the body was found in “an excess room where an old generator was” and that the room “has not been used in decades.”

Police are investigating the body as an untimely death. There is no evidence of foul play, Thomas said.

Wyandotte Falls resident Steve Parkhurst, who witnessed authorities removing the body on Saturday, said officers told him it looked like the body had been in there for some time, potentially months.

“You couldn’t tell whether it was a male or female,” Parkhurst said, relaying information he said police gave him.

Thomas said he couldn't disclose any information about how long the body may have been in the unused room or whether it was a man or a woman.

Clark and RHA Executive Director Stacey Price confirmed the person found in the room wasn’t an employee of the RHA or Woodsville. Clark and Price said they couldn't say how the person may have gained access to the room, as the area is locked.

Thomas said he couldn't say whether there were any signs that the person was living in the unused room.

Clark declined further comment, stating he’d prefer not to go into greater detail until police complete their investigation.

“There are a lot of unknowns, I think, at this point,” he said.

Price said she wanted residents and the public to know they aren’t at risk and that there’s no reason for “widespread panic.”

“It caught everybody off guard,” Price said of the body’s discovery. “Our main concern was we didn’t want our residents to be concerned they were in jeopardy by any means.”

The state medical examiner’s office will perform an autopsy by the end of the week, according to Thomas.

Authorities ask anyone with additional information to contact the Rochester Police Department at 330-7128 and to reference Case No. 19-323-OF.