Men found dead are season’s 10th and 11th cold-related deaths

The recent accidental deaths of two men—one found in a porta-potty and the other found in a vehicle—were the 10th and 11th cold-related fatalities of the season in Cook County.

Most recently, 38-year-old Mariusz Piwowarczyk was found unresponsive Thursday afternoon in the Archer Heights neighborhood.

Piwowarczyk was found inside a vehicle about 2 p.m. Jan. 8 in the 4100 block of West 52nd Place, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Authorities said he was likely homeless.

Piwowarczyk was pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy found he died from hypothermia and cold exposure, with chronic alcoholism listed as a secondary cause.

A day earlier, also about 2 p.m., 51-year-old Marek Bobak was found dead inside a portable toilet in the Northwest Side Belmont Cragin neighborhood.

A person working inside a new apartment building near the 2900 block of North Central Avenue found Bobak on the floor of the porta-potty, according to a police report. He was not wearing a shirt at the time, the report said.

An autopsy found he died of coronary artery atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and hypothermia was listed as a contributing factor, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Nine other cold-related deaths have been reported since Nov. 20, according to the medical examiner’s office.