A construction foreman missing since Wednesday afternoon was found dead yesterday morning at the bottom of a shaft inside the Constellation Energy Group headquarters near Baltimore's Inner Harbor, authorities said.
The man, Wayne Kerr, 55, of Glen Burnie, was a longtime employee of Centerline Construction Co. He was working at the Constellation building when he apparently fell from the ninth floor to the fourth floor in the 6-by-6-foot metal construction shaft. The building is at 750 E. Pratt St.
"Wayne Kerr had a lot of long-time friends here," said Mark Green, the president of Centerline Construction. "We are upset about what happened."
Ruth Kerr, Wayne Kerr's wife of 35 years, said she became alarmed when her husband did not come home from work Wednesday night. "It started getting later and later," she said. "I just kept calling his cell phone. I kept leaving messages."
She called Centerline Construction around 5:30 a.m. yesterday to ask if her husband had showed up for work the previous morning. A colleague confirmed that he did but said that he had disappeared around 11:30 a.m. "They thought he left early," Kerr said.
Colleagues searched the work site, finding his truck still parked at the garage across the street and his lunchbox. They found his body by paging his cell phone and listening for the beeps, Kerr said.
The death is being investigated by Baltimore homicide detectives, who look into all unexpected and unattended deaths. It is also being investigated by the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health, said Rhonda Wardlaw, a spokeswoman. The state agency investigates all incidents of employees who die at their workplace. Wardlaw said that falls are the leading cause of deaths in the construction industry.
Wayne Kerr loved to fish for largemouth bass and play horseshoes, cards and pool. Ruth Kerr said that she gave him a pool cue for Christmas.
Jason Michael Kerr, the Kerrs' son, died in a car accident in Albuquerque, N.M., in August 2005.
annie.linskey@baltsun.com