Man Lay Dead in Planet Fitness Tanning Bed for DAYS Before Discovery

A tragic discovery at a Planet Fitness gym in Indianapolis has rocked the local community after 39-year-old Derek Sink was found dead in a tanning bed — three days after he reportedly entered the facility and never came out.

Sink’s body was discovered on the morning of November 11 inside the south side Planet Fitness location, according to police. Family members say he had last been seen entering the gym on November 8.

Authorities say Sink died of a fentanyl overdose. His girlfriend, 41-year-old Heather Bradford, has been arrested and charged with supplying the drugs that killed him.

Bradford was taken into custody at a gas station in Mooresville by the Indianapolis Metro Police Department’s Overdose Death Task Force. She now faces a Level 1 felony charge of dealing a controlled substance resulting in death — a crime that carries up to 50 years in prison.

Police say the two met up at the gym the day Sink signed up for a membership, telling Bradford he wanted to get clean. But court documents reveal that Sink texted her asking for drugs the same day — and later messages suggest she gave them to him before he headed inside.

Bradford’s texts later turned frantic, with one message reading, “As much as I want you to be ok, I kinda am hoping you overdosed and are in a hospital somewhere and will surface in a day or 2. I love you dearly D.”

Sink’s family had reported him missing on November 9, the day after he vanished. His aunt, Kimberly Smith, revealed that Sink was wearing an ankle monitor due to a prior drug conviction and was living with his grandmother, Gardenia Sink, after his release from prison.

The ankle monitor raised two idle alerts on November 9 and 10. On the 11th, gym employees reviewed security footage and discovered he had entered a tanning room days earlier — and never came out.

Smith said the ankle monitor confirmed he hadn’t left the building since he walked in.

“He had the biggest heart ever,” she told WTHR. “He wanted things in life. He had goals. But he just had that demon — and she fed that demon.”

Bradford originally told police she was sober when they met up that day. But once investigators revealed they had Sink’s phone data, she changed her story and admitted they were both using drugs. Police also say they found fentanyl-laced heroin in her pants during the arrest.

In messages found on her phone, Bradford told someone that she believed police didn’t have Sink’s phone, saying, “If they had that phone, a warrant would have been issued for my arrest already.”

Sink’s grandmother, who was texting him for days while his lifeless body lay hidden inside the tanning bed, said she feared the worst after he never came home.

“Grandma is really worried about you,” she texted on November 9. “She is thinking the worst.”

Now, with his girlfriend behind bars and a grieving family left with questions, Derek Sink’s death is a haunting reminder of the deep grip addiction can hold — even in places meant for healing.