Contractor found dead 8 hours after trench collapsed on top of him, Oklahoma cops say

A contractor was killed Monday, April 10, when a trench he was working in collapsed on top of him, Oklahoma police say.

Jose Valenzuela was replacing a damaged sewer line outside a home in Holdenville when the trench collapsed, according to the Holdenville Police Department.

The collapse trapped Valenzuela for nearly eight hours. When rescue teams got to him at 11:20 p.m., they discovered he was dead.

Police said the investigation will be turned over to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office. Valenzuela’s cause of death has not been determined.

One woman said in a Facebook comment Valenzuela would be “missed by this whole town.”

“You (were) such a happy man that loved your wife and kids like no other,” Carla Moore said in the Facebook post.

“Jose was such a sweet, sweet man,” Kathryn Carpitcher said on Facebook. “He use to come through my line at Save-A-Lot when I was working and always had a smile on his face and a joke to tell.”

Holdenville is about 75 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.