Homeless man's body will be returned to family in Poland

Monroe - The body of a homeless man who froze to death in the woods behind ShopRite will be returned to his family in Poland for burial, Village of Monroe Police said earlier this week. Stanislaw Lipka, 51, was found dead on March 1. An autopsy, done at Orange Regional Medical Center’s Arden Hill campus in Goshen, indicated that his death was accidental. Police said he had been drinking and had fallen asleep outdoors in sub-freezing temperatures. His body had been kept in the hospital’s morgue as police looked for his relatives. Although Lipka had been arrested several times for petty crimes, police did not immediately know if he had any family. Their first call was to request his records through Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those records showed that Lipka entered the country on Jan. 22, 2005, and he listed an address in Lyndhurst, N.J. Police then spoke to the wife of Lipka’s cousin at that address. She told police that Lipka never lived with them, but was staying in a Polish section of Brooklyn. Lipka moved to Monroe in October or November 2005 and was working in Kiryas Joel, the woman told police. Meanwhile, she in turn contacted Lipka’s wife who lives in Ostrelka, Poland. Police also discovered that Lipka has a son living in the states. After a story appeared in last week’s Photo News, a few people contacted the police, including one woman who came into headquarters with Lipka’s immigration documents and other personal paperwork. She said that Lipka asked her to hold on to them so he would not lose them. All of his personal effects will be returned to his family, police said.