Remains ID’d as missing Broken Arrow man, Eugene Kozuk

By John Dobberstein, Editor

The human remains found near 131st Street and Olive Avenue in Broken Arrow last weekend have been identified as Eugene Kozuk, a resident with serious medical issues who went missing last year.

Kozuk, 46, was schizophrenic, diabetic and had several severe medical issues. He was seen on a surveillance camera leaving his mother’s house on Indianwood Avenue near Little Rock Street in Broken Arrow at 4 a.m. on May 24. His remains were found in a deep ravine less than a mile away from the house.

Kozuk’s sister, Emily Kozuk Old, told the Sentinel a “top anthropologist” was brought in by the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the investigation, to help identify Kozuk.

Family members said deputies don’t suspect any foul play at this time. The most plausible scenario is that Kozuk was having a low-sodium issue and was walking through the woods when he fell into the ravine.

Without needed medical care, low sodium levels would cause Kozuk to hallucinate and become delirious.

Very early on May 24, a video camera at his mother’s house shows Kozuk walking away after vomiting in the driveway and next to trash cans. He went over to a neighbor’s house and laid down on their porch, saying something about breakfast, witnesses said. The neighbor told him it wasn’t breakfast time yet and to go back home.

Kozuk was actually searching for a different neighbor who often had breakfast with Kozuk, but the family believes Kozuk was having a medical episode and likely was disoriented. Old said most of the neighbors knew about Kozuk’s medical conditions.

In social media posts, neighbors reported seeing Kozuk around 4:30 a.m. walking around in the neighborhood, ringing doorbells at some of the houses. One neighbor said he saw Kozuk make it back to the front porch of his grandmother’s house and that’s when he went back to bed.

The Broken Arrow Police Department was notified an hour after Kozuk walked away from the home, and a Kasey Alert was issued by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol later that day.

Several searches by the family and other parties, and rumored sightings and other leads didn’t pan out. Red Dirt OSAR, a search-and-rescue group, responded with search dogs to comb the area for signs of Kozuk, to no avail.