Missing Fridley man found dead in crawl space next to apartment

Police wouldn't say whether the death is suspicious.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: October 12, 2009 - 6:50 AM

No one had spoken to or seen Eric Truskowski for nearly a week before Sunday morning, when a friend drove to the man's Fridley apartment complex and roused a manager and two caretakers.

The quartet searched his apartment, which was locked, and found nothing. His 12-year-old cat, Buggz, had no food or water, but was fine otherwise. They searched a furnace room that he sometimes escaped to when neighbors got too loud. Empty. They tried a crawl space underneath some stairs where he was known to sleep. Locked, which was never the case.

Caretaker Theresa Cummins and her fiancé, Scott Weinreich, also a caretaker, opened the door. Weinreich ran to get a flashlight.

"I was praying to God it wasn't [Eric]," Weinreich said Sunday afternoon.

Weinreich stepped into the crawl space and flashed his beam into the very back, where he found Truskowski's body.

"I jumped," Weinreich said. "Seeing that poor guy ..."

Authorities were called to the building in the 4900 block of 3rd Street NE. about 10:45 a.m. The Anoka County Sheriff's office revealed little about the case, only saying that there was no forced entry. A sheriff's detective declined to say whether the death is considered suspicious.

The crawl space is located next to Truskowski's apartment, and is accessible via a door in the hall.

Friends said Truskowski, 45, was a diabetic who suffered from seizures and had drinking problems. He had quit his job as a mechanic about five years ago because of health issues, said Melissa Durand, who lives in the building.

"He offered to fix my car," she said. He was "always offering to do what he could for you."

Truskowski often slept in the crawl space because it was more sound-proof than his apartment, said his girlfriend's daughter, Tiffany Metcalf.

She said Truskowski often helped her mother because she is legally blind. "He was a really good-hearted person," she said. "He loved his kitty."

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391

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