Man frozen in block of ice ignored for over a month

Story here. If these had been heels and a dress instead of men's shoes and jeans coming out of the ice, do you suppose everyone who knew about it would have been quite so indifferent? I doubt it. Excerpt:

'DETROIT -- This city has not always been a gentle place, but a series of events over the past few, frigid days causes one to wonder how cold the collective heart has grown.

It starts with a phone call made by a man who said his friend found a dead body in the elevator shaft of an abandoned building on the city's west side.

"He's encased in ice, except his legs, which are sticking out like Popsicle sticks," the caller phoned to tell this reporter.
...
Nearly 24 hours went by. The elevator shaft was still a gaping wound. There was no crime scene tape. The homeless continued to burn their fires. City schoolchildren still do not have the necessary books to learn. The train station continues to crumble. Too many homicides still go unsolved.

After another two calls to 911 on Wednesday afternoon (one of which was disconnected), the Detroit Fire Department called and agreed to meet nearby.

Capt. Emma McDonald was on the scene.

"Every time I think I've seen it all, I see this," she said.

And with that they went about the work of recovering a person who might otherwise be waiting for the warm winds of spring.'

I notice that the word 'person' is used to describe the dead man, not 'man'. I can't help but think that this was a stylistic decision on the part of the author who knows, consciously or not, that the article would get little attention if the word 'man' were used to describe the victim. So 'person', the gender-neutral term, gets used. Maybe then, the story will get some attention.