'They want to help' 5 civilians honored for aiding in capture of murder suspects
Rochester Eccentric May 13, 2007
BY ANNETTE KINGSBURY, STAFF WRITER
On a freezing Thursday afternoon last November, Janice Rysiewski was on a cigarette break outside the Riteway Fence Company on Auburn Road in Rochester Hills when she noticed something appeared to be wrong across the street at a store called Bozana's.
Co-worker Eugene Zapczynski ran over and found the door locked. Peering inside, he saw what appeared to be a man standing over someone, administering a beating. Another man appeared to be standing watch.
"He told me to call 9-1-1; he yelled," Rysiewski later testified. Another co-worker, Mark Grundner, went over, carrying a metal rod. That's when the assailants came out of the store, one of them covered in blood.
"I told him to stop," Grundner testified. "I told him if he took his hands out of his pocket ... I'd bash his brains out." When the men kept walking, Zapczynski and Grundner followed them through the neighborhood until police arrived. Pauline Eickholdt had seen the two suspects hanging around earlier in the day.
When she saw the commotion she told her husband, Darrell, to call police, then ran outside and tackled one of the suspects, her husband trailing her with the phone.
"I just thought we were chasing a robber," she said later. "By the time we got down on Emmons, I noticed all the blood on him. I said, 'You ain't going anywhere.'"
For their courage and assistance, the Eickholdts of Rochester Hills and Riteway employees Grundner, Zapczynski and Rysiewski were awarded citizen citations by Sheriff Mike Bouchard last week.
In recognizing a long list of civilians and law enforcement personnel May 9 on the occasion of National Peace Officers Memorial Day, Bouchard said all the honorees had something in common.
"The typical human reaction when you see danger is to run," he said. "The people in this room couldn't do that. They want to help."
The two suspects in the death of Bozana's owner Cedomir Taseski -- Gordon Melling and Adam Kadrioski -- are in the Oakland County Jail awaiting an August trial.
"The first couple of days were really hard," Pauline Eickholdt said of the crime. "We have two little ones. They were asking questions. "Every time I drive by there, you just shake your head. You move further north, you think it's a better neighborhood. But my mom always said there's crime everywhere."
Eickholdt said she's only sorry she didn't call police when she saw the two suspects earlier in the day, loitering near her home.
"Woulda, coulda, shoulda," she said.
"I'm glad all four of us were able to jump in. I'm so glad the fence company guys saw something going on."
