Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Body of Florida man, 68, found badly burned after spending hours inside malfunctioning sauna

Body of Florida man, 68, found badly burned after spending hours inside malfunctioning sauna 

Dennis Antiporek often used the sauna at his home at the Eden Isles Condominiums in North Miami Beach to treat his neuropathy, but Sunday night he was found dead inside a few feet from the door. The family said they are scarred by the sight of seeing the damage the excessive temperatures did to his body.

 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
 
Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 1:57 PM
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A Florida family is now scarred with the image of a loved one's body charred and without chunks of skin after he died while sitting for hours in a malfunctioning sauna Sunday.
The family of 68-year-old Dennis Antiporek said the North Miami Beach resident left a note at his home that said he was headed to the sauna at his Eden Isles Condominiums. After a few hours his daughter Lara Antiporek went to the spa to look for him.
She opened the door and said she saw a man whose skin was a dark color. She didn't realize it was actually her light-skinned father of Polish and Russian descent until she noticed his clothing hanging up nearby, according to CBS Miami.
Dennis Antiporek, 68, left a note Sunday night saying he was going to the sauna. He died inside after the timer malfunctioned.
Dennis Antiporek, 68, left a note Sunday night saying he was going to the sauna. He died inside after the timer malfunctioned.
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  • Dennis Antiporek, 68, left a note Sunday night saying he was going to the sauna. He died inside after the timer malfunctioned.
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  • The family believes the sauna’s timer may have malfunctioned.
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COURTESY OF THE MADALON LAW FIRM
"I close my eyes and I just see his face charred," his wife of 49 years Ronnie Antiporek told the station. "And this sounds horrible, but there was skin on the floor and on the bench, and we shouldn't have had to see that."
Ft. Lauderdale attorney Joseph Madalon, of the Madalon Law Firm, told the Daily News he is representing the family and moving ahead with a wrongful death suit against the condo association and Elite Management Associated Inc., the company that maintains the sauna.
An employee at Elite told The News the company had no comment citing the ongoing investigation. The condominium association did not return a call seeking comment.
Madalon said they are trying to investigate what caused Dennis Antiporek, a retired sheet metal worker from Chicago who used the sauna on a near daily basis to treat his neuropathy, to die.
A medical examiner's office received his body today and will try to determine a cause of death. Police are also investigating the matter, he said.
So far, he said they believe the timer on the sauna was broken and the coils in the machine malfunctioned, causing the temperatures to be much higher than normal.
The "excessive" levels of heat is apparent when examining the victim's body which was found only a few feet from the door tucked in a fetal position, he said.
His skin had fallen off his body. There were huge chunks of skin on the sauna floor. He literally looked like jerky.
"He was totally broiled," Madalon said. "His skin had fallen off his body. There were huge chunks of skin on the sauna floor. He literally looked like jerky."
They want the examiner's office to determine if the high temperatures may have induced an illness like a stroke or a heart attack that prevented him from leaving the sauna, he said.
The couple bought the condo in 1988 and were in the process of permanently retiring there, Madalon said.
Ronnie Antiporek, Dennis Antiporek’s wife, said she is scarred by the image of her husband’s dead body that was badly burned and was missing chunks of skin.
Ronnie Antiporek, Dennis Antiporek’s wife, said she is scarred by the image of her husband’s dead body that was badly burned and was missing chunks of skin.
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  • Ronnie Antiporek, Dennis Antiporek’s wife, said she is scarred by the image of her husband’s dead body that was badly burned and was missing chunks of skin.
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  • Dennis Antiporek, 68, died Sunday night after the sauna in his Florida condominium malfunctioned.
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  • Lara Antiporek, Dennis Antiporek’s daughter, located her father’s body inside the sauna.
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  • A view of the Eden Isles Condominiums in North Miami Beach. The family nought a condominium at the complex in 1988.
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  • Dennis Antiporek, 68, left a note for his family on Sunday night saying he was headed to the sauna.
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  • The sauna Dennis Antiporek frequented on a near daily basis is now a memorial to his death.
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CBSMIAMI
But now the sight of Dennis' body continues to haunt the family, they told CBS Miami.
"I can't get that image out of my head. I can't get that smell … I don't want to eat, I don't want to do anything. Because all I can think about is being in that sauna and that heat and seeing the most important man in my life dried up into nothing," Lara Antiporek told the station.
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