ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (AP) - A man whose decomposed body was found inside a portable toilet at a Lake St. Clair boat launching site had lived on the streets since losing his home to tax foreclosure in 2010 and long had been out of touch with family members, police and relatives said.
St. Clair Shores police said Gary Szarek, 65, was a former resident of nearby Grosse Pointe Woods. His body was found April 19 and investigators identified him last week.
Debra Hunkins of Mayville, said her cousin was “a stranger to most of the family.” She said she hadn’t seen him in two or three decades and recalled that Szarek used to send a Christmas card to an aunt each year until the relative’s death about five years ago.
“We don’t know what he was thinking,” Hunkins told the Detroit Free Press. “We don’t understand.”
Autopsy results found Szarek died of hypothermia at the municipal boat launch, about 10 miles northeast of Detroit. The restroom had been closed since the fall.
Police said Szarek used the locked toilet for shelter during the frigid, snowy winter. In his wallet, police said they found $146 and several Mega Millions lottery tickets.
The Grosse Pointe Woods library had contact with Szarek in October, when he had to leave because he was bathing in the bathroom and eating in the library, said St. Clair Shores Police Detective Margaret Eidt. He also was known to bring returnable bottles to an area grocery store.
Szarek was found wearing warm clothing and had been sleeping inside a large black garbage bag, the Free Press reported. The portable toilet also was filled with trash, including receipts, the last of which are dated Dec. 8 - around when police suspect he died.
Szarek had lived with his parents in Grosse Pointe Woods. He later lived alone and was evicted after the foreclosure, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported. Neighbors told the newspaper he had to be forcibly removed from the home by police officers.
The portable toilet where Szarek was found was removed Monday from the boat launch, which was opened for the season the day his body was found. It had been cleaned and secured with tape, said Edwin Goossens, owner of American Sanitation.
It’s common for workers servicing such portable toilets to find homeless people inside with their belongings, seeking shelter from the cold or the wind, Goossens said. Because the units lock, Goossens said, they offer a feeling of safety to those inside.
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