Residents in one Travis County neighborhood discovered a man's body suspended from a cell phone tower Wednesday morning, and sheriff's officials do not believe it was a suicide.

The body was found dangling from a tower off of Highway 71 near Old Bee Caves Road.

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KVUE's Melissa McGuire reports

05/14/2008

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Just after 8 o'clock Wednesday morning, someone spotted the man's body suspended in a safety line about 30 feet high on the cell phone tower

“Units got here, it was obvious he was deceased,” said Roger Wade, sheriff’s department spokesman.

Travis County sheriff's officials say the 40-year-old man lived just a few feet from the tower in Overlook Estates off of Thomas Springs Road.

The man’s father, who owns the property where the tower sits, told KVUE he last saw his son at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.

Neighbors did not seem all that surprised by what happened.

“He was the son of my landlord. Like I said, he was a troubled individual,” said Ed Ramirez, neighbor.

Investigators don't think it was easy for the man to get to the tower because he had to get over a fence. In fact, the sheriff's department had to cut through a lock to get to him.

The man’s father said he and his son do not have access to a key which would unlock the high gate surrounding the tower.

Officials are calling this an accidental death -- not a suicide.

The medical examiner ruled the preliminary cause of death as positional asphyxia -- the man was hanging upside down and unable to breathe properly.

“There was nothing to indicate strangulation which is what most suicides off of a pole would be,” said Wade.

It's believed the man was up there when storms passed through Wednesday morning, but no one seems to know why.