After Death In Woodchipper, 'Happy Teenager' Mourned In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — A family and community are mourning for the Pennsylvania teenager killed this month after being pulled inside a woodchipper.

Nearly $20,000 had been raised to support the family of Isiah Bedocs, the 17-year-old who was working with a tree company at a home in North Whitehall Township in Lehigh County when the incident occurred.

"(He) had his whole life ahead of him," his friend Christine Castro shared in the GoFundMe memorial. "He was a happy teenager who went to work."

Castro added that Bedocs had brought another friend on with him to help the day he was killed.

The death of Bedocs has been "devastation" for those who knew him and the region at large. "This accident had taken the community of Whitehall and beyond," Castro wrote.

First responders, meanwhile, are recovering from emotional trauma due to the gruesome scene they discovered, Lehigh Valley News reports.

Bedocs was headed into his senior year at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, where he was studying automechanics.

"He loved spending time with his friends, listening to music, and taking vacations to the beach,' his obituary notes. "His favorite place to spend time with his family was Ocean City Maryland. Above all, Isiah was a loving son, brother, and friend. He will be truly missed by all who knew and loved him."

State police are continuing to investigate the incident.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the victim's name. The story has been updated. Patch regrets the error.

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