Joseph Ziemba Jr, 49 Located/Deceased

Missing man's body found By KARIN WILLIAMS, kwilliams@phoenixvillenews.com1 2/24/2005 UPPER PROVIDENCE - A Mont Clare man who went missing more than two weeks ago was found dead Friday in a swampy area along the banks of the Schuylkill River. The body of Joseph Ziemba Jr., 49, was discovered in a wetlands area between the Schuylkill River and Canal on Friday morning. He was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. Upper Providence Police Officer Elizabeth Platchek, working side by side with an off-duty Havertown police officer and his wife, searched about a mile of ground around the Schuylkill River and Canal early Friday with cadaver dogs. The Havertown officer, Robert Will, and his wife, Michele Will, are with Southeast Search and Recovery in West Chester. Their dogs, two Boxers named Quincy and Carson, are trained in recovery work. Charles Bacon, fiancé of Ziemba's daughter Ashia Karpinski, also joined the search. The team searched the area for about 90 minutes, beginning a half-mile down-river from the Route 29 bridge spanning Phoenixville and Mont Clare. Platchek said disturbances in the ice and snow, including footprints which she photographed with a digital camera, warranted further investigation of the area. When the search of that area proved fruitless, the team moved further up-river to Lock 60. While the cadaver dogs were searching the banks of the Schuylkill River, Platchek was called to a wetlands area of the Schuylkill River just below the Route 29 bridge, approximately three-quarters of a mile from the Lock. Platchek said Sgt. Mark Freeman, of the Upper Providence Township Police Department, had been searching on foot and discovered Ziemba's body in a swampy section of land near the river. "That part of the land floods easily, and old trees and trash get caught up when the water recedes," she said. Upper Providence police and detectives sealed off the small access road between Produce Junction and the Route 29 Bridge until Montgomery County Coroners arrived to remove the body. Cause of death will be released after an autopsy is performed. "It's a sad ending," said Platchek. Ziemba disappeared from his Mont Clare apartment in the early-morning hours of December 11. Police were called to the house around 5 o'clock that morning after neighbors reported the door to Ziemba's apartment standing open. The bathtub faucet had was running when police arrived, and water had flooded the apartment. Karpinski told police she had been speaking to her father just hours prior to the arrival of police, and said Ziemba was disoriented and confused because of medication he was taking. Police determined Ziemba had wandered away from the apartment after the phone conversation with Karpinski. Karpinski said Ziemba was a "great dad and a great guy." "We love him and we'll miss him every day," she said. Karpinski said she wanted to thank those who assisted in the search for her father, including those who hung missing-person fliers in their establishments. "A huge thank you to the Upper Providence Police Department, especially officer Platchek," Karpinski said. "She was extremely helpful and compassionate about the whole situation, she didn't stop for a minute through the whole time." She also said she wanted to thank the Pennsylvania State Police in Reading for conducting air to ground searches, as well as the Wills, and the Mont Clare Fire Department for doing water searches. "Thank everyone that helped in the search," she said. "My family appreciates everything they have done." ©The Phoenix 2005 http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15814654&BRD=1673&PAG=461&dept_id=17915&rfi=6

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