man found in Lake Lillinonah Ruled Suicide by drowning

 

 

 

By Andrew Gorosko

BRIDGEWATER — Based on the results of an autopsy, state police have concluded that the death of a  college student, whose body was recovered by divers from Lake Lillinonah on Wednesday, was a drowning by suicide.

In statement issued Thursday afternoon, state police spokesman Lieutenant J. Paul Vance said “Investigators have been actively working the investigation into the untimely death of Joseph Zahornacky, 22, of Shelton…During this investigation Connecticut state troopers conducted numerous interviews, recovered physical evidence and other investigative information.”

“On Thursday, January 18…the Office of the Chief State’s Medical Examiner conducted a post mortem examination of the deceased. The medical examination determined the cause of death to be drowning and the death has been ruled a suicide,’ he added.

The untimely death contains no criminal aspect and the investigation has concluded, Lt Vance said.

 Mr Zahornacky’s body was pulled from Lake Lillinonah by divers on Wednesday morning, following a search of the lake that came after Brookfield police spotted the student’s sport-utility vehicle in the lake waters early Tuesday morning.

Before the autopsy, state police had termed the death “suspicious.”

While on patrol early Tuesday morning near the Brookfield-Bridgewater town line, a Brookfield police officer spotted the white 2000 Jeep Cherokee near the end of the state boat launch on Route 133 in Bridgewater.  Considering it unusual, the officer went to investigate and found the vehicle to be rolling into the lake at the end of the boat launch and becoming submerged. Lake Lillinonah is a hydroelectric impoundment on the Housatonic River behind Shepaug Dam.

Brookfield police divers were called to the scene to investigate, after which divers from Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) were called at 4:45 am Tuesday.

NUSAR divers found the unoccupied Jeep about 125 feet off shore, submerged in about 35 feet of water, said Mike McCarthy, NUSAR’s chief diver.

NUSAR divers floated the Jeep, after which it was transported to state police’s Troop A barracks in Southbury to be held as evidence.

State police later sent their divers and helicopter crew to the area to search for a body but found none on Tuesday.

After resuming diving on Wednesday, they located Mr Zahornacky’s body in the lake at about 11 am. Relatives identified the body.

State police said that Mr Zahornacky had been traveling from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., on Monday night.

“There were no apparent reasons for Mr Zahornacky to be in the Bridgewater area,” according to state police.

In their investigation, detectives sought to form a timeline for the events preceding Mr Zahornacky’s death. Also, they did a background investigation and checked for possible witnesses.

Lt Vance said that the Brookfield police officer who spotted the Jeep as it was rolling into the lake did excellent police work in discovering the incident.