PROSPECT — State police are investigating the death of Paul McGrath, a local resident with ties to Naugatuck and president of Southern Connecticut Pop Warner football.
A neighbor found the body of McGrath, 54, at his Hemlock Road home Monday morning and called police, state police said.
Mayor Robert J. Chatfield said Prospect Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to 14 Hemlock Road between 8 and 9 a.m. for an untimely death. State police from Troop I in Bethany responded shortly after 9 a.m., spokeswoman Sarah Salerno said.
After police deemed McGrath’s fatal injuries suspicious, detectives from the state police Central District Major Crime Squad responded to the scene and took control of the investigation, Salerno said.
The office of the state chief medical examiner said an autopsy will determine the cause and manner of McGrath’s death, Salerno said.
Southern Connecticut Pop Warner’s board of directors expressed its grief by posting McGrath’s photo and a statement on the organization’s website.
“There are no words to express the shock and disbelief that we are all experiencing as this was so sudden,” the statement says. “Paul’s love for his Naugatuck family and SCPW will truly be missed.”
A Trauma Services biohazard cleaning truck was parked at the property Tuesday morning. Three employees at the scene declined to comment.
A close neighbor, Jan Janczewski, who just moved to the area at the beginning of April, talked with McGrath once and said he seemed like a “pretty nice person.”
Chatfield said McGrath had only lived in the home for a couple of months.
“I want to extend the town’s sympathy to the family,” the mayor said Tuesday.
