A postmortem examination conducted Thursday by the Chief State's Medical Examiner Office revealed that Joseph Zahornacky drowned. After an investigation, State Police have determined that the young man's death contains no criminal aspect. Those who knew the Shelton resident and popular Manhattanville College junior are shocked by the news.
"We believe it to be possible, but we're not completely [ruling out] the chance maybe it wasn't [a suicide]," said the victim's brother, Michael Zahornacky. "Nothing says it was something else, but the whole chain of events that transpired don't seem to add up." Around 4 a.
m. Tuesday morning, a Brookfield police officer contacted State Police after noticing Mr. Zahornacky's vehicle, a white 2000 Jeep Cherokee, suspiciously parked on the lake's boat ramp.
The ramp is on the Bridgewater side of the lake, which is an expanded section of the Housatonic River that is part of a hydroelectric power generation system. A landmark bridge spans the lake, connecting Bridgewater and Brookfield. When state police arrived at the site off Route 133, the vehicle was sinking under the mid-30 degree waters.
The State Police Dive Team searched the lake until nightfall Tuesday. The search resumed at daylight Wednesday morning. Around 11 a.
m., Mr. Zahornacky's body was discovered.
The last time anyone had seen Mr. Zahornacky was Monday night. He had just returned from a visiting his girlfriend in California and was en route from La Guardia Airport in New York City to Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.
Y. When his flight landed, he called his girlfriend to say he had arrived home safely and talked about what a fantastic time he had with her in California. His brother said he talked about moving out there someday.
Manhattanville College, a small school of approximately 1,500 undergraduates in Westchester County, is approximately 27 miles north of La Guardia. Lake Lillinonah in Bridgewater/Brookfield is well over 50 miles north and east of the school. According to family members, Mr.
Zahornacky had no known connections or reason to be in the Bridgewater/Brookfield area. "We never went there as a family," his brother said Thursday. "The first time I ever went there was yesterday.
" On his ride back to school, Mr. Zahornacky stopped at a Walgreens in Greenwich. Initially, reports indicated a store surveillance video placed Mr.
Zahornacky in the company of a red-headed female while at the store. His brother, however, said it was a case of mistaken identity. His parents reviewed the tapes and the man in the video was not, in fact, Mr.
Zahornacky, although he had stopped at the store to make a purchase that evening. Mr. Zahornacky called his mother on his ride back to college, and talked about switching his major at school.
He also called a close college friend and said he wanted to watch a movie together when he got back to campus. Michael Zahornacky said his brother was in good spirits. "Based on the picture everyone has given us-his girlfriend he left in L.
A., to all his friends in college, our mother who he spoke to that night, everyone-it doesn't make a lot of sense to us either," he said. "[The police] are much more educated in this type of thing than we are," he said when asked about the family's reaction to the State Police conclusion of suicide.
He said the family might look into his brother's death more in the future just to be sure, but "at this point we're very sad and we're just trying to mourn him as the beloved brother and loving person he was." Marcy Minnick of Shelton, the victim's sister, called him a "delightful young man" who was popular, peaceful and liked to play guitar and hang out with small groups of friends. "He was just really an ideal son and brother," she said.
Mr. Zahornacky attended Shelton High School, then went on to graduate in 2003 from Wilbraham Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., his family said.
Donald Ramia, headmaster at Shelton High, said his family is close to the victim's family. "They are a great family, and this is such a shame," Ramia said. "[Joseph] was gregarious, and a lot of fun to be around.
He always liked the arts, and had a lot of friends here in Shelton." Richard Berman, president of Manhattanville College, said Mr. Zahornacky was a junior who was majoring in management and had a minor in communications, with an interest in sociology.
Mr. Zahornacky was well-known around the college for his writing, guitar playing and songwriting, Mr. Berman said.
The school is arranging counseling for students who knew him and a prayer service in his memory. "It is a very sad day for us," Mr. Berman said.
"People are remembering what a wonderful, sensitive, caring student he was. It is tragic when you see that type of potential snuffed out prematurely.
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