The lack of closure haunts the family of murder victim Keith Polerecki.
It's been an excruciating 16 years since his beaten body was discovered near the Coxton Rail Yards in Duryea, they say.
Polerecki's devastated son, then 9, grew up without a dad. The family visited the cemetery each birthday and holiday to place flowers. A newborn granddaughter will never meet him.
Meanwhile, the killer has never been found.
While plenty of questions remain unanswered in the unsolved case, Polerecki's family is certain of one thing: someone knows something that could help solve the case.
"There are people out there who know and we need them to come forward," Keith Polerecki Jr., now 26, of West Pittston, said recently, pleading for those with information to come forward. "People's consciences have to start wearing on them at some point."
State police investigating the case say they've continually worked on the case over the years and are again publicly seeking information in hopes those with information have a change of heart.
"There have been a set of people who have been persons of interest -- they were either there or know something," said state Trooper Chris King, one of the investigators on the case. "We feel there may be some people out there who know something. Maybe these people are older and have a family of their own now, and will come forward and realize that this person was a human being -- he has a son, now a granddaughter."
Keith Jr.'s daughter was born Aug. 6, right around the anniversary date of when his father disappeared 16 years ago.
Tina Polerecki, 70, who lived on Searle Street in Pittston, last saw her son on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 1996 when he stopped by for his brother's birthday party.
"When he walked out that door, that was the last time I saw him," she said.
Polerecki, who lived with his father, Daniel, on Broad Street, left the home on Thursday, Aug. 7, never to return.
At first, family thought Polerecki, who had discussed going on vacation to Florida, might have taken an impromptu trip, considering it was a week when the family business where he worked, Cyclone Cleaners, was closed. But it soon became clear, he wasn't coming home and something was wrong. The family contacted police after the weekend.
Polerecki's body was found Aug. 14 in the Coxton Rail Yards. While Polerecki had suffered nine broke ribs, then-Luzerne County Coroner Dr. George Hudock didn't make a ruling on his manner of death after an initial autopsy. Amid an investigation by the three-member Duryea police department, Polerecki was laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Carverton. Eleven months later, authorities exhumed Polerecki's body to obtain DNA. His death was subsequently ruled homicide. The state police took the lead on the investigation at the behest of then-Luzerne County District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr.
Over the years, the Polerecki family has been in constant contact with state police investigators, who give status updates about the direction of the homicide probe.
"This has been going on way too long," said Tina Polerecki
Polerecki had two siblings: an older brother, Danny, and a younger brother, Brandon.
"Every day and every night, the whole family suffers," Keith Jr. said, noting it was difficult growing up as an only child without a father.
The family said they wanted to again put Polerecki's story in the public's eye as they do every few years, hoping for information that leads to a breakthrough.
"This case in particular is very active. There's always information coming in on it," said King, who has worked on the case with state police Cpl. Gerald Williams and Trooper Stephen Polishan. "We feel there may be some people out there who know something. We'd like them to come forward."
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call state police at Wyoming at 570-697-2000.
Copyright 2012 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
