Men grieve near a homeless camp located north of the Amtrak Station, near Seventh and New York streets, where two bodies were found inside a tent on Friday afternoon.

Lawrence Police detectives are awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death of two men found Friday just north of the Amtrak station, Seventh and New York streets.

Police Sgt. Troy Squire said no signs of foul play were found during Friday’s investigation.

The men were identified as an 18-year-old from Oklahoma and a 29-year-old from Indiana. The men’s names were withheld pending notification of their relatives. They were found dead inside a tent near the wooded area east of the Riverfront Mall, police said. Officers were notified of the deaths at 3:05 p.m. Friday.

The area is well-known as a campsite for local homeless people. Stephen Elder, monitor and case manager at the Lawrence Community Shelter, went to the area to offer police help in identification, he said. Elder said he recognized several men speaking with police, because they frequent the shelter, 214 W. 10th St., or the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen in the basement of First Christian Church, just south of the shelter.

The men speaking with police were acquaintances of the men who died.

“It’s rough,” Elder said. “We’ve been through situations where we’ve lost people before. So when : my co-worker called me I was like, ‘Oh no, not again.’ It’s sad. And these names I didn’t recognize right away. Since we do intakes on people and stuff, I was racking my brain to figure out if I had met them or not, and I hadn’t.”

He added, “We’re sometimes the people that get to know everybody that’s on the street. We try to help. Sometimes we’re the only contact that some of the people have that are coming through.”

Elder said he knows many people who camp in the wooded area near the Kansas River. They choose to stay there instead of at shelters for multiple reasons, he said.

“Some don’t like to stay in the shelters because they don’t like sleeping around other people in such tight circumstances,” he said.

Others are transients passing through, he said.

Loring Henderson, director of the community shelter, said often people passing through don’t visit the shelter.

Last October, the city attempted to shut down the homeless camp. The area, on a bluff overlooking the Kansas River, is also designated as a city nature preserve. Numerous people have continued to stay there, however.

Mike Murphy, owner of Murphy Furniture Service across from the depot, said he often sees people coming in and out of the woods. He’s owned his business since 1976.

“Several people come and go throughout the day, mostly younger people,” he said. “You don’t know what they are doing on the other side of the tracks.”

Reacting to the death investigation, he said, “Anytime you have that happening in Lawrence, you’re concerned about it.”

“It’s an isolated area, and it’s a place people can go and be by themselves and do what they want to do so there’s always concern.”