Not Right
Sticking out from the clearing ahead was something that didn't belong. They approached cautiously and inspected the twisted hunk of metal, hoping that someone wasn't still inside.
They opened the front door and peered into the wreck and, thankfully, there was nobody there. But how did it get here? Just then, Joe spots something bright blue from the corner of his eye.
Just Like Any Other Day
It began just like any other normal evening for Alec Yanisko and Joe Del Vecchio. The two teenagers had know the woods behind their homes in Lackawanna County for all their lives. They often went ATVing, hiking, and fishing there.
However, on this excursion, they stumbled on something that would turn out to be the clue investigators were searching for. They had no idea that their woodland playground would never be the same afterwards.
Something Very Wrong
Joe and Alec decided to go to a corner of the woods in search of adventure, but the pair didn’t know that adventure had already found them.
They found the car far from the road, and all signs pointed to something sinister. The boys immediately knew something was very wrong. The car in the woods just didn’t make sense.
Discovery
There were no signs of movement inside the abandoned car, but the windows had all been smashed. Joe and Alec peered inside but didn’t find a soul. Everything was eerily quiet.
The teenagers, curious, started to look around the car in search of more clues. How had the car gotten so far into the woods? And what had happened to the passengers?
Piece Of The Puzzle
Joe began to search for anything that might solve the mystery. He opened the car and looked for signs of what had happened. And that’s when he found a Sam’s Club retail card. Did it belong to the driver?
The two boys didn’t put two and two together until later. The name on the card was Edwin Kosik, and the name sounded vaguely familiar.
Clues
The Sam's Club card was the first piece of the puzzle. Joe and Alec typed the name into Google and Facebook. What they found online left them wide-eyed in disbelief.
When the teens saw who the card belonged to they wasted no time. However, time was running out.
Edwin Kosik
The man who the Sam’s Club retail card belonged to was none other than ex-federal judge Edwin Kosik. He was a much-loved figure in the community.
The 91-year-old had been missing for two days. And the teenagers were the only ones who had the slightest clue about his whereabouts. They couldn’t believe what they had stumbled upon.
Running Out Of Time
The police had taken to the news and even Social Media to encourage anyone with information to come forward. Time was of the essence for the federal judge.
the police feared that an elderly man would not survive exposure to the freezing cold -- the winter temperature had plummetted overnight. Alec and Joe immediately searched around the abandoned car again, to no avail. There was no sign of the missing man.
Getting Help
Joe and Alec raced home and told their parents about the mangled car and the missing judge when their search for Kosik became futile in the growing darkness.
The boys’ parents immediately called the police, who asked the teenagers to take them to the scene in the woods. They arrived equipped with flashlights and a K9 unit. The search party looked for the missing man deep into the night.
Scared
“I didn’t think they’d find him alive,”Alec admitted in an interview later, “I was a little scared.” But, Unbeknown to the boys, there was already a massive investigation underway.
The media was involved and the public had rallied together, taking to social media and the news in hopes of finding their beloved community member. They had even put up billboards in the hopes that someone had some information.
Worry
The residents of the town had even assembled search parties of their own, “I’ve gone up the mountain, Aston mountain, checking the back roads and stuff, just seeing if he made a wrong turn somewhere and got lost!”, one volunteer said.
Everyone was worried about 91-year old Kosik, and the tension grew as the hours passed and there was still no sign of him.
A Crime?
Judge Kosik had been a federal judge for over 30 years and was well-known and loved by the community. But what had happened to him?
Fears grew that something nefarious was afoot, as the judge had no doubt made some dangerous enemies over the years. Then, the first clue was found on a camera’s security footage.
First Sighting
Kosik could be seen on the recording 24 hours before the police had realized he was missing.
Kosik was wearing jeans and a blue coat in the early hours of the morning as he tried to enter Bill’s Shoprite, which was closed due to the hour. But what had happened to him?
Concern
Defense attorney Chris Powell said: “We want to know what happened to him. I was just over in court this morning and it’s on everybody’s mind.”
Everyone was worried that the judge’s disappearance was due to criminal activity. Had he been attacked or taken? Then, the boys made their breakthrough discovery in the woods.
Lying There
With the new evidence of the car in the woods, the police soon found Kosik. The dogs quickly found his scent and led the police to where he had been lying — just 100 meters away from the abandoned car.
The boys had passed over him numerous times as they searched in the dark, but was he alive?
Piecing It Together
Kosik was barely conscious and had been too weak to call out, and he had no idea where he was. The marshals then managed to piece together what chain of events had led him to be alone in the woods, so far away from any roads.
He had suffered memory loss and had become disoriented, and had crashed his car. Exhausted and shocked, he had collapsed.
Prognosis
Kosik was immediately taken to the hospital and treated. His son, who had been sick with worry since he had gone missing, shed tears of relief.
He then told the hospital to watch out for old injuries that may have been hurt by Kosik’s accident. Surprisingly, the hospital declared him to be in “fair condition”, It was truly a miracle!
Curiosity
If the two teens, Joe and Alec, hadn’t stumbled upon the car and the telltale club card, Kosik’s story may not have had a happy ending, and the beloved judge is alive and well thanks to their quick thinking and curiosity.
US Marshal Martin Pane was especially grateful.
Humble
“We’re very thankful to these two young men that they saw this vehicle, happened to be in this area, fortunately,” Pane told Fox News.
But the boys shrug off all the praise, and Alec said: “We’re glad he’s okay, glad that we could help out.” But that wasn’t the end of the interaction between the grateful judge and his saviors.
Grateful
Joe and Alec visited Kosik in the hospital to make sure he was okay, and Kosik was even present when they received an award for their bravery, saying: “It was an honor to watch them receive their award, I am sat here today because of them”.
Joe even wants to be a police officer one day, and he has definitely proved himself worthy of the role.