Dead Postal Worker IDed; Death Under Investigation

Investigators were hopeful an autopsy would help them determine how a Hayward postal employee, whose body was found at a dump in San Leandro. may have died.

Postal Inspector Hilary Rickher said 61-year-old Nancy Rogers, of Fremont.worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 43 years, mostly in Hayward, where she was considered "an institution."

Rogers was an opening clerk who arrived at the post office at 24438 Santa Clara St. in Hayward early in the morning to prepare mail for carriers to deliver later in the day, Rickher said.

On Monday, Rogers came to work at 1 a.m. Several hours later, the small group of employees who worked with her that day noticed that she was missing and called their supervisor, Rickher said. The supervisor then called police.

The early morning employees "are a very close-knit group" and it was "out of the ordinary" for Rogers to disappear, Rickher said.

Hayward police Lt. Chris Orrey said officers who responded to the post office determined that its Dumpster had recently been emptied.

Officers contacted Waste Management of Alameda County and discovered that a trash collector had picked up the Dumpster's contents sometime before the employee was reported missing, Orrey said.

Officers next went to Waste Management's transfer center at 2615 Davis St. in San Leandro and determined where the trash from the post office had been unloaded.

The piles were searched, and amid the trash officers found a body that matched Rogers' description, Orrey said.

Rickher said postal inspectors and Hayward police are conducting a joint investigation into Rogers' death. She said the cause of her death hasn't yet been determined.

She postal employees are protected under federal law and if it is determined that Rogers' death wasn't an accident or due to natural causes, the U.S. Attorney's office will prosecute the person responsible.

Orrey said anyone with information about Rogers' death should call Hayward police Inspector Mike Woods, or any other available inspector, through the Crime Stoppers tip line at (510) 293-7197.