All i have to say is WOW
Everyone seems to be going down the porcelyn pee hole.
I used to think this kid was Hott.
Murder suspect commits suicide
By Rick Pfeiffer
Friday, May 13, 2005
The search for a suspect in the Falls second homicide this year ended Thursday afternoon when the man police were looking for apparently committed suicide by walking in front of a truck on the New York State Thruway near Dunkirk.
Police said the body of Eric Zornek, 20, 931 Lafayette Ave., was discovered shortly after they received a report of a pedestrian being hit on the Thruway near the Dunkirk exit. The body was lying just a short distance from Zornek’s red Pontiac Vibe, which was parked in a nearby drug store parking lot.
Falls police detectives had put out a national alert for Zornek and his car after linking him to the discovery of the city’s latest victim in the basement of a home at 1347 Ontario Ave. Thursday morning. That victim was Michael W. Johnson, 20, 1211 Ethel Ave.
Police responded to the single-family Ontario Avenue home after receiving a call of a “possible body in the basement.” When officers arrived, they said they found Johnson’s body face down under a black tarp, surrounded by a large quantity of blood. His ankles had been bound with duct tape.
“The body had numerous wounds to the head as a result of blunt force,” Falls Police Detective Capt. Ernest Palmer said. “It was particularly gruesome.”
The man and woman who live at the home told police they were awakened around 10 a.m. by a “thud” coming from inside the house. The man told officers he heard the “thumping noises” for several minutes and finally called out, “Who’s there?”
When no one answered, the man said he got up and left the bedroom. He heard noise in his bathroom and again asked, “Who’s there?”
Zornek, who had previously lived with the couple at the Ontario Avenue address, then came out of the bathroom and said, “It’s me.”
The witness told police Zornek appeared to have been washing his hands and “was covered in blood on his shirt.”
As Zornek went to leave the home, he turned to the man and said, “Whatever you do, promise me that you will not go into the basement.” The suspect then walked out of the house and got into his car, which was being driven by a woman identified as Zornek’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Bridget Carmody.
Once Zornek had driven away, the man went to the basement and saw what appeared to be a shoe sticking out from under a tarp. He then called police.
That touched off a hunt for Zornek and Carmody. The hunt intensified when police received a call around 4 p.m. from Carmody’s father, telling them that his daughter was in Fredonia and had fled from Zornek after he had threatened her with a knife.
As detectives raced to Fredonia to pick the woman up, investigators got the call from Dunkirk Police saying they had found Zornek’s car and then, his body.
Palmer said Carmody was questioned by detectives and then released to her parents.
“She has not been charged at this time,” Palmer said,” but I’m not ruling out the possibility of charges,”
The detective chief said investigators believe Zornek and his victim were “acquaintances.” Palmer said detectives are still “looking into a motive” for the slaying.
Death tied to drug case
By Rick Pfeiffer
Saturday, May 14, 2005
The Falls latest murder victim was apparently killed to keep him from testifying in a drug case.
City cops said Friday they had begun to figure out what lead 20-year-old Eric Zornek to brutally beat to death an acquaintance, Michael Johnson. Johnson’s body was discovered late Thursday morning in the basement of a home at 1347 Ontario Ave.
Zornek died later in the day, when he apparently committed suicide by walking in front of a truck on the New York State Thruway near the Dunkirk exit in Chautauqua County.
Investigators said Zornek had been facing federal drug charges in connection with a marijuana smuggling operation in the Falls. The Lafayette Avenue resident was reportedly accused of bring quantities of pot in from Canada.
“He (Zornek) believed that Johnson had provided information to the government and was going to testify against him,” Falls Police Detective Capt. Ernest Palmer said. “Zornek made it clear to others that he was going to make sure that Johnson didn’t do that.”
Palmer said detectives were still piecing together the details of how Zornek and Johnson both ended up in the basement of the Ontario Avenue home. Zornek had previously lived at the address and knew the current residents.
“I know how Zornek got there, I’d like to find out how Johnson got there,” Palmer said.
Johnson had been scheduled to start a new job Thursday at a Grand Island marina, but never showed up for work. Zornek reportedly worked as a maintenance man with the State Parks Department.
“He (Zornek) was described as a very bright kid,” Palmer said.
An autopsy was performed on Johnson Friday morning at the Erie County Medical Center. Niagara County Coroner James Joyce said the cause of death was “massive blunt force trauma to the head.”