An 87-year-old upstate nursing home resident fell to his death while trying to sneak out of a third-floor window with a makeshift rope, according to reports Tuesday.

William Strasner plunged more than 30 feet Monday while climbing down a rope he’d made by tying bedding and clothing together at Emerald South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Buffalo, police sources told the ABC affiliate WKBW.

A worker found Strasner, who lived alone in a room at the facility, in a parking lot below the window around 8 a.m., police said. He died on the way to a hospital.

A device used to secure a window in Strasner’s room had been removed, the police sources said.

A staffer at the facility had checked on Strasner half an hour before he tried to escape, Buffalo police Capt. Jeff Rinaldo told the station.

State and county officials are investigating, according to NBC New York.