Joseph Zahornacky Missing College Student in CT (Update: Found Deceased)
22 year old Joseph Zahornacky, a student at Manhattanville College, is missing. His car was found submerged in Brookfield, CT’s Lake Lillinonah Tuesday morning. To date there has been no sign of Joseph Zahornacky.
Description:
- 6 feet tall
- about 190 pounds
- blond hair
- blue eyes.
Police found 22-year-old Joseph Zahornacky’s car submerged in Brookfield’s Lake Lillinonah Tuesday morning, but there is no sign of him.
Zahornakcy’s family told NBC 30 they last spoke to him Monday night on his way to school at Manhattanville College in Westchester County, N.Y.
They said he had returned from a trip to California and had just left LaGuardia Airport. (NBC30)
UPDATE I: Police say body found in lake is missing student
HARTFORD, Conn. — Divers searching a lake in rural western Connecticut on Wednesday found the body of a college student missing since Monday, police said.
Divers found Zahornacky’s body after two days of searching in frigid water. Family members identified him at the scene and his body was taken to the chief state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy, which was scheduled for Thursday.
State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said authorities have labeled his death suspicious but are not releasing any details about how he died. They are asking anyone with information to contact them.
Surveillance video from Monday night showed Zahornacky talking with a petite redhead at a convenience store in Greenwich. Family members did not recognize her.
Records show Zahornacky also bought gas at a station in the town, which is not far from the New York border. A family friend said it would not have been unusual for Zahornacky to stop in Greenwich on his way back to school.
Zahornacky’s family and state troopers said there was no apparent reason for him to be in Bridgewater. (The Advocate)
UPDATE II: Death Of Missing Student, Joseph Zahornacky, Ruled A Suicide
A missing college student whose body was found in a lake in rural western Connecticut drowned himself, police said Thursday.
An autopsy was conducted Thursday on the body of Joseph Zahornacky, 22, of Shelton (Hartford Courant)
I live in the area and there is NO WAY that you just “end up” near Lake Lillinonah!
You really have to know how to get there!
Lake Lillinonah is on Route 133. It is a rural back road, which leads nowhere but to Bridgewater, CT – a town of 1500 people.
Eventually Route 133 connects with Route 67 – which will take you to the small town of New Milford, CT (pop. 26K) or in the other direction to the tiny town of Roxbury, Ct. (pop. 1900).
The roads off Route 7 that you need to take to get to the lake do NOT have ANY signs to direct you to Lake Lillinonah.
You’d have to KNOW that the lake is there AND you’d have to know exactly HOW to get there. You could never just accidentally end up on Route 133!
I do NOT believe for a second that this lovely boy committed suicide…he was clearly murdered!
I am appalled that the state police have ended the investigation.
I hope his parents hire a PI to check this out further. SOMETHING TERRIBLE happened to this boy – he did NOT commit suicide.
He checked in with his mom the minute the plane landed and when he didn’t check in again to tell her that he’d arrived safely at his dorm – she called him at 10:30 PM. He told her that he was just about at the college. He also supposedly called a friend at the dorm too saying he’d be there soon and they made plans to watch a movie.
He was out buying toiletries and went to an ATM. Hardly the actions of a suicidal person.
No, this was a wonderful son – a respectful son who loved his mom. He would NEVER just disappear off the face of the earth that way.
If he were going to commit suicide – he’d have left a note.
If that police officer hadn’t just happened to see the partially submerged car in the lake – no one on earth would ever have known what happened to this kid.
I do NOT believe that even if Joe was contemplating suicide – which I don’t believe for a moment – that he’d want his body to disappear forever without any trace so his parents would forever be wondering what happened to him. That is beyond the pale. That would be SO cruel.
No, whoever did this to Joe thought that dumping the car and body at 4 am on a rural road assured him that the body would NEVER be found.
Only by the grace of God did the luck of the timing of the officer driving by the lake – that the CRIME was discovered.
It is outrageous that this case is considered closed.
Aren’t they going to check the car for fingerprints OR lack of prints?? What if the car has been wiped down???
There are SO many unanswered questions.
But something is VERY wrong with this picture. WAKE UP CT. STATE POLICE
Also has anyone checked the cell phone towers? When Joe spoke to his mom – and then placed a call to his college – were the calls actually made from where Joe said he was???
OR were the calls made from and bounced on towers nearer to Danbury etc.
BTW there is virtually NO cell service at all on Route 133 or for the most part any of Litchfield County.
It is in the paper weekly about people fighting having towers up here.
I think the cell phone calls MUST be verified.
Comment by Dr. Polka | January 18, 2007
I am involved with a girl who is a very close family friend. Spending time with the family now as we head to the wake this evening and the memorial tomorrow. I have met Joe before, he was a very nice and inviting person. I feel so bad for the family at this point and wish them my best. I saw them last night for the first time and the mood did appear to be lighter, albeit sorrowful still. I think for now the family is very overtired and I hope they can try and muster some sleep so they can continue to cope with this difficult time.
Comment by Ad | January 19, 2007
I have to agree with Dr. Polk, this makes no sense at all and there is not one iota of evidence to backup their claim of suicide. I strongly urge the family to push for this to be investigated further, to lose a loved one is hard enough, but to not know what REALLY happened, when anyone who had ever met the family would know how vivacious and full of life they ALL are, is just an atrocity.
Comment by CQ | January 23, 2007
If this was indeed a suicide, why would he do it?
I immediately thought that his girlfriend in California had dumped him, thus triggering the suicide. If that was the case, why would he try to hide his body so thoroughly? Had the police not spotted his car, there is good chance he would have never been found. If he committed suicide over this girl, wouldn’t he WANT his body to be found, to ‘teach her a lesson’?
On this link: http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1028847
it is stated:
“State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said he knows why Zahornacky drove to this area, but would not divulge the reason. Police said they conducted numerous interviews and recovered physical evidence in connection with his death.”
So they know why he chose this place, but they wont say, presumably out of respect for his family.
At the north end of Lake Lillinonah, there is “Lovers Leap State Park”. Again, it sounds like he might have chosen this place had he been dumped by his girlfriend, but maybe the site was not suitable for a suicide, so he drove down the lake’s edge to a more suitable place?
Another side note: I minored in Sociology, and part of the discipline is to study suicide, and what drives people to commit it. Perhaps that has something to do with it. There was a case recently of a seemingly normal happy girl who visited a suicide related website, and then killed herself.
I just put these theories out there to try to find answers. I don’t think I have made any solid conclusions whatsoever. It doesn’t sound like a suicide to me. At all.
I hate to speculate so much, and I feel so sorry for his family, but when something like this happens, I just want to know why.
Comment by Mr. Smith | January 24, 2007