Ohio trucker found dead in rig along Pa. turnpike

12/9/2013

SOMERSET, Pa. — State police say a truck driver from Ohio has been found dead in the sleeping compartment of his rig after pulling off the Pennsylvania Turnpike during bad weather.

Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller says 49-year-old Robert Slaven Jr., of Springfield, Ohio, was westbound when he pulled off to the side of the toll road when rain began turning to ice on Friday night.

Police were summoned when the rig hadn’t moved by morning, and say they found Slaven’s body in the rig just before 11 a.m. Saturday.

Miller says Slaven died of cardiorespiratory arrest and ruled the death of natural causes.