PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria Police responded Thursday afternoon at 12:40 to a report of a car covered in snow in the University St. Walmart parking lot.
Upon uncovering the car, officers discovered 64-year-old Michael Balicki covered in blankets and apparently dead from hypothermia.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said details as of Friday were still up in the air.
“It’s difficult to say how long he’d been dead down to the exact day,” Harwood said.
“With the cold temperatures, the decomposition of the body is slower, so it’s difficult to say [exactly when Balicki died].
Harwood said surveillance cameras were being examined Friday to determine how long Balicki had been in the parking lot.
“I think that’s going to be pretty pivotal in our investigation to be able to pinpoint exactly how long he’d been sitting in the parking lot,” he said.
Harwood said a toxicology report was being conducted, too.
“The other thing we like to rule out, as well, especially with someone found in a car, is carbon monoxide poisoning. We don’t anticipate that being the finding, but we [test] it to rule it out.”
Police said the temperature was 12 degrees at the time they were called to the scene.
