Once bright and fun, man died alone in outhouse

DETROIT — Decades ago, Gary Szarek was an achiever who was social and drove a sports car.

But the former Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., man quit his university job working with computers when he didn't get a promotion, his relatives said. Eventually, he became a recluse.

"It was a sad situation," said Szarek's cousin, Debra Hunkins of Mayville, who hadn't seen her cousin in 20 or 30 years. "He was a ... person who contributed to society. ... He was almost, like, ahead of his time, very personable, liked to dance. Then it was just totally different."

In a story that has been described in one word — sad — Szarek was found dead of hypothermia April 19 inside a white portable toilet at the 9 Mile boat ramp in St. Clair Shores.

Police initially didn't know who he was and couldn't find relatives, but they said they believed he used the portable toilet as a shelter from the harsh weather.

As the story spread through the media, relatives were found. People who knew Szarek years ago and even strangers — such as genealogists — have contacted investigators and others offering whatever information they have or can find.

"How nice of people to do that. It kind of restores your faith in people," St. Clair Shores Police Detective Margaret Eidt said.

Through the calls, investigators have been able to learn more about 65-year-old Szarek, whose family home in Grosse Pointe Woods went through tax foreclosure in 2010. Szarek was evicted and tried staying in the house afterward.

Since 2010, Eidt said, Szarek has been on the streets.

She said the Grosse Pointe Woods library had contact with him in October, when he had to leave because he was bathing in the bathroom and eating in the library.

Szarek was known to employees at Kroger stores at Marter and Jefferson and 9 Mile and Mack, both in St. Clair Shores, Eidt said. That's where, she said, Szarek would return bottles and sometimes receive a donation of food or warm clothing from those who knew him.

Eidt said a resident at Shore Club apartments near the boat ramp said that he saw Szarek often with a backpack, which police have not found. He told her that he gave Szarek clothing and in October or November, told him he needed to find shelter.

Szarek didn't go far — traveling across a restaurant parking lot to the boat launch lot and the portable toilet that became filled with trash, including receipts, the last of which are dated Dec. 8, Eidt said. That's when police said they believe Szarek may have died.

Szarek was found wearing a hooded sweatshirt, plaid green shirt, black nylon windbreaker and gray T-shirt. He wore blue jeans, a pair of socks, boots, an aviator type of hat and a pair of mittens, Eidt said. He was sleeping inside a big black garbage bag.

His estate, Eidt said, was $146 in his wallet, $20 in bottle returns and about seven Mega Millions lottery tickets.

What is especially sad, she said, is that Szarek could have spent about $42 a night at a nearby motel and possibly not froze to death.

Eidt said Szarek didn't abuse substances. He had no criminal record, little prior contact with Grosse Pointe Woods public safety and no contact with St. Clair Shores police.

Marcia Proven of Grosse Pointe Woods, who was a friend of Szarek's sister in junior and senior high school, remembered him as a young man who didn't date and wasn't "mega-social." She said he and his family "lived a quiet, average" life for the time.

Hunkins said Szarek, who lived with his parents, never married or had children. She remembers him in his early 20s as being intelligent. She said he went to West Point and was into technology before computers were commonplace.

Hunkins thought Szarek might become the CEO of a company sometime: "That was the direction he was headed in."

"For whatever reason, he was bypassed (for the promotion)," said Hunkins, who contacted police after hearing about her cousin's death. "When it happened, it caused some type of breakdown."

Hunkins said Szarek eventually "became a stranger to most of the family."

Szarek's brother-in-law, Wayne Dulong of Midland, said Szarek took care of his mother after his father died. He said he last saw Szarek about 24 years ago.

He said Szarek, who he believed had a mental illness, split from his sister after their mother died. Registered letters she mailed him were returned, and Szarek didn't answer the door when Dulong went to the house.

"We were wondering what happened to him (after Szarek lost the house)," Dulong said. "We had no way of getting a hold of him."

Szarek's neighbors in Grosse Pointe Woods said he went out at night to mow the grass and rode a bicycle. They never saw visitors at his home, which reportedly was filled with piles of mail, newspaper and other items. Amid the disarray, Eidt was told, was a perfectly made bed he slept in.

Neighbor Roseanne Horne said she once asked Szarek whether she could do anything for him. He froze, she said, and walked away. She didn't know where he had been the last four years, but she thought she saw him on occasion riding his bicycle on Mack.

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.

He said Szarek's death is a rare occurrence in the more than three decades he has had the business.

However, Goossens said, it is not unusual for others servicing the units to find homeless people inside with their belongings, seeking shelter from the cold or the wind. Since the units lock, he said, homeless people can feel safe.

Goossens said some of the homeless people using the units as shelter stuff toilet paper in the vent on top to stop the wind or start fires in the urinal to keep warm.

Hunkins said relatives knew Szarek was alive through the years because he would send a Christmas card to an aunt. After the aunt died about five years ago, she said, "we had no other way of knowing where he was or if he was alive."

"It makes you sad," she said. "How do you connect with people like that when he couldn't connect with his own (family). … We don't know what he was thinking. We don't understand."