Homeless in RI: Irina and Stanislaw Kozak Laid to Rest After Winter Deaths Outside Miriam Hospital

Mother and son had reportedly been living in their car for nearly a year. An emergency call for help came nearly two weeks before they were found.

By Nancy Thomas

Irina Kozak, 75, and her son, Stanislaw Kozak, 49, were laid to rest Monday, June 15, at North Burial Ground in Providence, following a memorial service held Saturday at Mathewson Street United Methodist Church.

The mother and son were found dead Feb. 11 inside a snow-covered white Kia in a parking lot next to Miriam Hospital, after a period of severe winter cold. Providence Police identified them in early reports as Irina and Stanislaw Kozav, though memorial and burial references used the spelling Kozak.

Authorities said the two were believed to have been experiencing homelessness and living in their vehicle. Reporting at the time said they had been living in the car for approximately a year. Police said their deaths appeared weather-related, with possible contributing health factors, and that foul play had been ruled out.

But the case did not begin on the day they were found.

Providence Police call logs later revealed that nearly two weeks earlier, on Jan. 28, an emergency call had been made on Irina’s behalf. The caller told dispatchers that Irina was disabled, trapped inside the white Kia and unable to get out, and that her son had already “passed away” and had not moved in two days.

Police said they were not able to speak directly with Irina during that call. The information came through a Russian-speaking friend and an English-speaking interpreter. Officers searched the area around Miriam Hospital and nearby parks, but they were unable to locate the vehicle. Irina and Stanislaw were not found until nearly two weeks later, when their bodies were discovered inside the car in a parking lot adjacent to the hospital.

The police report reportedly listed an Ivy Street address in Pawtucket for both Irina and Stanislaw, though public reports reviewed do not include the street number. Ivy Street does not appear on publicly listed Pawtucket shelter or warming-center addresses, suggesting it may have been a last known residential, mailing or prior address rather than a shelter address.

Details about their lives remain limited. Public records do not confirm their immigration status, citizenship, religious background, employment history, voting record information, or how they came to be living in a car outside a hospital parking lot. Reports are that police located a daughter living in Germany, through use of WhatsApp. No other information about the daughter or other personal information has been found.

At the memorial service, Pastor Kevin Simon of Mathewson Street United Methodist Church reflected on the fact that many of those who gathered did not personally know Irina or Stanislaw. Yet they came to honor them as people whose lives mattered — a mother and a son, people with names, a family, a history, and a place in the world. Some members of the Providence General Assembly, a social justice advocacy group attended as well as Rev. Duane Clinker an advocate for the homeless in Rhode Island.

Community members in Pawtucket and Providence helped raise funds toward memorial and burial expenses for Irina and Stanislaw Kozak.

Their deaths raised painful questions about homelessness, disability, language barriers, emergency response and what happens when people in crisis are living out of sight — even when they are parked next to a hospital.

How could a disabled elderly woman, reportedly trapped inside a vehicle, ask for help and still not be found? How could a car believed to be covered in snow remain in a hospital parking lot for days – or weeks? What systems existed to check on people living in vehicles during extreme cold? And what systems failed Irina and Stanislaw before they died?

Providence Police said after the deaths were reported that the department was reviewing the response to determine whether improvements could be made.

For Rhode Island, the burial of Irina and Stanislaw Kozak closes one part of the story. But the larger story remains open — the story of people living in cars, people without shelter, people with disabilities, people who may not speak English, and people whose lives can disappear into the margins until tragedy forces the public to look.

Irina and Stanislaw Kozak were found in February. They were buried in June.

Their names should not be forgotten.