This Man Made An Accidental Discovery That Saved a Life

It was an ordinary day for 15-year-old Alec Yanisko and his 18-year-old friend Joe Delvecchio when they decided to go for a fun ride on their ATVs.





They were no strangers to the roads and the terrain in the area, as they often went out to ride ATVs in the evening. Little did they know that this ride was about to bring something unexpected into their lives.





A Life-Changing Ride

Local hikers and quad riders usually met at a popular spot in the woods near the homes of Yanisko and Delvecchio. The boys had visited that same spot numerous times and they expected this visit to be just as usual.





However, they certainly didn't expect to make a life-changing discovery on the road. They simply went on with their plans with the intention to have a good time doing what they love the most.




The Car In the Distance

The boys drove into the woods and it didn't take long for them to notice something strange lurking in the distance. As they approached the mysterious object, they realized what they had found was an abandoned car.

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However, this was more than just an abandoned car. As soon as the boys saw it, they knew something strange was going on. The sight before them carried an unsettling atmosphere that they couldn't ignore.




Strange Vibes

What made the boys interested in the newly discovered car was the fact that the vehicle was a quarter of a mile away from the nearest road.






The fact that it was randomly placed so far away from the road seemed strange. It was evident that something was not right at the scene, which made the boys eager to investigate even further.




The Discovery

Upon closer inspection, Yanisko and Delvecchio made another shocking discovery. As they approached the car, they noticed it wasn't only abandoned but it was also stuck on the road.


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This discovery made the scene even more mysterious. Something unexplainable urged the boys to look into the situation even further in hopes to reveal clues that could lead to discovering what had happened. Even though it was getting dark outside, the boys decided to stay at the scene and continue investigating the abandoned car.




Getting Closer

Further discoveries brought new questions that needed to be answered. The boys quickly noticed that some of the car's windows were crashed and the vehicle itself was stuck on a log.

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What made the whole situation even more mysterious was the fact that there was no one near the car or in the area at all. Where was the driver? Was there anyone in the car with them? What could have forced them to leave the car?




Searching for a Clue

After inspecting the outside of the vehicle and the areas nearby, the boys decided to look for clues that could indicate the identity of the person who was in the car.





They took time to check the trunk, the seating area, and the additional compartments in hopes to find any ID or piece of paper that could serve as a clue.




What Did the Clue Mean

Finally, they came across a clue that gave their investigation a whole new direction. What they found was a Sam's Club retail card which belonged to a person named Edwin Kosik.





Even though this was by far the best clue they found, the boys weren't really sure where to go from there. They knew the name of the person who owned the card but they couldn't be sure whether that person was in the car at the time of the accident, if there even was an accident.

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A Facebook Search

Their next move was to make a quick Facebook search in hopes to find the man who owned the retail card. Founding this person would lead to revealing new clues and information as to what had happened in the woods.





After hitting the search button, the boys revealed the biggest clue so far. They certainly found important information about the man named Edwin Kosik, but were these search results enough to clarify the mystery of the abandoned car?




Here's What They Found

Surprisingly, the Facebook search resulted in numerous news reports about Kosik. Apparently, Edwin Kosik was a 92-year-old man who was also a respected federal judge.





The most shocking discovery they made was that the man named Edwin Kosik was missing for the previous two days. Are they now a part of the investigation? Was the car they accidentally came across an important clue in a federal investigation? They were about to find out.




Nowhere To Be Seen

Even though the new information shed some light on the situation and made it clear that things weren't right at the scene, the boys still had no idea what it all meant. One thing was for sure, they were so scared of their new discovery that they rushed home right away.


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The boys found the car but they never found the missing old man. After all, they were not sure how important the car was in the whole case of missing Edwin Kosik.




The Police Get Involved

The boys couldn't keep their discovery to themselves so they decided to tell their parents about what they had found in the woods. The parents immediately called the police to get an official investigation started.
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The officers came soon after and asked the boys to take them to the abandoned vehicle, which they did gladly. However, even the police were not able to find any trace of the old man in the area where the car was discovered.




The Search Begins

“I was a little scared,” Yanisko told The Times-Tribune in April 2017. “I didn’t think they’d find him alive.” A large search party was organized soon after in hopes to discover new clues as to where the judge might be.

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The whole situation escalated quickly and the search got far larger than the boys had expected. The police included special teams and trained dogs as an attempt to find any piece of information that would allow the search to continue.




Concerns Among the Locals

The whole town was filled with posters and highway message boards about the missing man, which made the locals very concerned. “I’m shocked. I’m very upset because he’s a great man and we don’t want anything happening to him” said Georgia Fisch, of Madison Township.





Even the people who never knew Edwin were worried because of the whole situation. Georgia Fisch was one of those people who knew Edwin and she even drove around town on her own in hopes to help the investigation and find any clues. “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!” she added.




It Remains a Mystery

The police stated that “Communications with the family has revealed that Judge Kosik has taken medication to aid in memory loss”. US marshals later received a potential clue. They confirmed that a 91-year-old man might have been seen on the Pennsylvania Turnpike heading toward New Jersey.
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The case got so serious that even the FBI insisted to join the investigation. After all, Kosik served as a judge on the federal bench in Scranton for over 30 years and he was a very respected man in the area. There was no doubt that they truly wanted to find him.




New Clues

One of the largest clues in the investigation was a surveillance video that clearly showed judge Kosik heading toward the Bill's ShopRite in Covington Township but the store was closed. This footage dates back to a night before he went missing.





After filing the reports and receiving this information, the police conducted a thorough search in the area around Kosik's last known whereabouts. According to a trustworthy source, the judge disappeared from his home near Scranton around 1:30 am.




The Shocking Disappearance

The legal community in Scranton was shocked by the recent events and Kosik's disappearance. Chris Powell, the attorney who argued in front of judge Kosik for decades said: “We want to know what happened to him. And everybody has their opinion, as lawyers, among themselves. I was just over in court this morning and it’s on everybody’s mind."






The whole community was worried about the situation and prayed for Kosik to be alive and well. According to the video footage, Kosik was wearing jeans and a blue winter coat when he was last seen in the area.




The Helicopter Search Begins

After speaking to judge Kosik's family, the United States Marshall Martin Payne said that the police came to some new information that might have affected Kosik's disappearance but they still couldn't rule out criminal activity as one of the potential circumstances.

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The search continued after the police sent a helicopter to fly over the Covington Township area in hopes to find new clues. The locals were kindly asked to report any strange sight or activity to 911. The investigators also asked people in the town to contact the police if they had seen Kosik or his car prior to the disappearance.




Concerns Over Memory Loss

Kosik's son was especially worried about the situation. He believed that his father's disappearance had something to do with his memory loss issues. Assuming that his father simply forgot where he was and wandered outside alone, Kosik's son was concerned about the cold weather and the conditions his father might have been in.






The whole situation escalated quickly and the detectives had to do something that would move the investigation forward. They used all media channels to inform the public about the judge's disappearance and kindly ask for any new information to be reported. Kosik's face was all over the television but his son wasn't sure whether this would lead to any new clues.




Finally a New Discovery

Luckily for Kosik and his family, one of the trained police dogs was on terrain when the police got near the missing man. The search dog was able to pick up the man's smell and lead a team of policemen to the judge.





Believe it or not, judge Kosik was only about 100 yards away from the whole scene the entire time. It was a shock for the two boys to hear that the man was located so close to the car they had found.




Found Alive

When they found him, Kosik was lying on the ground and, luckily, he was still breathing. Even though he had spent days in terrible conditions, Kosik was still able to coherently communicate with the officers and he even noticed that one of the marshals had his hair cut recently.



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Everyone was happy that the old man was found alive but they were all eager to find out what had happened to him. What forced judge Kosik to spend days outside, lying on the ground in the woods?




What Really Happened

During an interview for a news channel, the police said that the old man had likely spent two days all alone prior to being found. “I don’t know exactly how long he was in this state for, but it is very possible that he was there the whole time,” the police officer added.





At the time he was found, Kosik was wearing the same jeans and the same winter jacket he wore two days earlier when he was last seen. This indicated that he had indeed spent two days helplessly lying on the ground in the cold.




Hospitalization

The emergency team was not sure whether Kosik had any injuries but so they hospitalized him for further medical checks.

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Even without any new injuries, the judge must've had a tough time because, as his son Michael Kosik said, he was recovering from serious rib injuries he had sustained two years prior to this incident.





Medical Checks

To make sure everything was okay, an ambulance vehicle quickly transported Kosik to the Geisinger Community Medical Center. Professional medical staff at the center proceeded with further tests to establish whether the man had any serious injuries.

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After the tests were done, the staff informed the news team that the patient was in "fair condition." Everyone was happy to hear that judge Kosik was doing well but this information hadn't cracked the mystery yet.




Some Things Still Remained a Mystery
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No one knew what exactly happened to the judge. There were no additional clues that could shed some light on the situation and the judge's poor memory wasn't helping.





Kosik's status as a judge had been changed to "inactive" earlier in the year when he started taking memory loss medication. Could these health issues be the cause of the mysterious incident?




Two Heroes

If there wasn't for the two teenagers, Yanisko and Delvecchio, who knows how many days and cold nights judge Kosik could've spent in the woods.






The two teenagers were an important part of this investigation and they were even recognized by US Marshal Martin Pane for their contribution and bravery.




It All Comes Together

After the situation settled, the police officers came to the most logical solution to the mystery. It was most likely that Kosik had suffered from memory loss at the moment he was driving the car.





He ended up crashing the car into a log and, since he couldn't remember where he was, he immediately became disoriented. Being alone in the woods must've frightened him so, after wandering off about 100 yards from the car, he collapsed onto the ground and stayed there for two whole days.




Thanking God For the Discovery

“We’re very thankful to these two young men that they saw this vehicle, happened to be in this area, fortunately,” Pane said during an interview for Fox News in April 2017. After all, the two boys were responsible for the positive outcome of the situation.



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During the broadcast, Delvecchio responded with: “We’re glad he’s okay, glad that we could help out.” He also added that he would like to become a police officer one day.




They Were at the Right Place

Even though they saved the life of a 92-year-old man, the two boys didn't see themselves as heroes. As Delvecchio had said for The Times-Tribune, they were only fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time.

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The two teenagers were glad they were able to take part in the case and help find the old man. If they hadn't investigated the car in the first place, this story would've had a completely different ending.




New Friendships

The boys didn't know anything about judge Kosik before finding the car but, after the incident, they wanted to get to know him. According to a report by Fox News, the boys planned to meet up with the judge after his recovery.

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They also took time to visit the old man in the hospital to make sure he was okay. After all, this whole situation was very meaningful to them as well.





The Boys Deserve the Credit

It was time to give these two brave teenagers credit for what they had done. Many teenagers wouldn't even bother to stop and look at the car on the road but Yanisko and Delvecchio did far more than that.





The boys went out of their way to look for clues inside the car and come up with a possible scenario behind the abandoned vehicle. They didn't only discover the vehicle but they also informed the police officers on all the details they found at the scene. Who knows how this story would've ended if it were someone else in their position.
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A Happy Ending

In the end, the two teenagers were happy that they were able to help save a life. Even though they never really found out what had happened at the scene, they were happy to know that the old man was found alive.





It seemed that Kosik's memory loss issues caused the whole incident. The man forgot where he was and got lost on his way home. As sad as this story sounded to them, the two boys were happy that everything turned out okay.





A Priceless Act

Both Kosik and his son were extremely thankful to the boys for what they had done. Kosik's son Michael said: “I don’t know how I can ever repay them, for helping to bring my father back to me."





If it wasn't for the boys and their dedication to solving the case, the community would have lost an honorable judge and Michael would've lost his father.




Honored For Their Actions

Saving someone's life wasn't the kind of act that you can get away with without receiving a reward. The two boys, Joe Delvecchio, and Alec Yanisko were honored in Lackawanna County for helping find the missing federal judge.





They received a proclamation from county commissioners at Dunmore High School in a ceremony that was held in front of their parents, friends, and schoolmates.




Receiving the Award

Meanwhile, judge Kosik had been released from the hospital, as he was recovering quite fast. He made sure not to miss the proclamation ceremony at the school.



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He proudly watched the boys receive the credit they deserve for saving his life. He even added: “It was an honor to watch them receive their award, I am sat here today because of them”.