Body of student missing for 3 months found

[DOG3]

Body of student missing for 3 months found around corner

Associated Press, 04/18/98 22:32

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (AP) - Searchers used dogs, snowmobiles and aircraft
to look for Kevin Zebrowski, a college student from New Jersey last seen in a
motel bar on a freezing New Year's night.

His parents left their jobs to look for him, posting fliers in New England and
Canada.

More than 3 months later, the body of the 21-year-old Zebrowski was found
behind a convenience store just 340 yards down the road from the bar, leaving
residents and the anguished parents wondering how the body was overlooked.

``They themselves had driven by that spot hundreds of times,'' Wendy Ault, a
family friend, said of Kenneth and Maureen Zebrowski.

Zebrowski's body was discovered Friday by two skiers who went behind the store.

An autopsy conducted Saturday determined that Zebrowski, who left his jacket
behind when he disappeared into a night with a wind chill of 45 below zero,
died from hypothermia due to exposure.

Authorities believe Zebrowski would not have survived long in the cold without
a jacket. Police did not suspect foul play. Toxicology and blood-alcohol tests
were pending.

``It's obvious that he was covered with snow,'' Maine Public Safety Department
spokesman Stephen McCausland said.

A nearby ski area has reported 13 feet of snow since Jan. 1.

Zebrowski, a student at the University of Maine at Farmington, had been
drinking and dancing at Judson's Sugarloaf Motel and Gondola Bar when he
declined a ride from a designated driver at 1:30 a.m. on New Year's Day. He was
gone when the driver returned at 2 a.m.

Zebrowski's father left his banking job and his mother took a leave of absence
from a cosmetics company so they could move from Rahway, N.J., to Farmington
and conduct their own search.

The parents posted a $25,000 reward for information about Kevin's
disappearance. There were candlelight vigils at the university. The family
distributed thousands of fliers.

Meanwhile, the body lay a few minutes' walk away.

``They combed the area completely,'' motel manager Vicki Gregory said. ``So
that is the shocking part, finding him so close.''
------------------- In taberna mori
Ut sint vina proxima
Morientis ori.
-- The Archpoet, 12th Century