Police investigate the deaths of two young men

Two young men have been found dead in their cars within the last two weeks. Both were found under strange circumstances. In the first case, the body of a New Jersey man found dead in a shopping center parking lot Aug. 12 has been ruled a suicide. But his family needs answers for their piece of mind. In the most recent case, Robert J. Gale, 29, of Monroe, was found dead Saturday, Sept. 1, by Woodbury Police Sgt. Christopher Friedman, who had followed the car to a Highland Mills home after reports that the car was being driven erratically on Route 32. The driver ran into his apartment leaving his passenger in the car. The officer went to interview the passenger and found he was dead. Police went into the apartment and found the driver Steven Prunier, 42, who was later charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs. He is being held in Orange County Jail, in lieu of $2,5000 bail. He has not been charged in Gale’s death. Where could he have gone? Frank Trezza found the body of his son, Matthew Trezza, all of 21, dead in his car Aug. 12 in the Home Depot parking lot. In a telephone interview, the West Orange, N.J., resident described the time leading up to the discovery. Matt, who had a job and had just re-enrolled in Essex Community College, left home on Aug. 7, heading for Atlantic City, saying he would be home by midnight. “My wife called him on his cell phone around 6 p.m. but didn’t get an answer,” Frank Trezza recalled. “We kept calling all night but still no answer. “We were concerned because our son had Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. “By the next morning we were getting really nervous. Matt hadn’t taken any of his medications with him which indicated to us he was planning to come home. “We filed a missing persons report with the West Orange (N.J.) Police Department. They checked his EZ Pass and found nothing had registered and his bank records had no history or money transfers. Now, we were really puzzled. Where could he have gone?” At 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, police called the Trezza family to say they tracked Matthew’s cell phone to a tower in Monroe, New York. The next day the Jersey police joined with New York State Police and New York Park Police to search for Matt. They were aided in the search by a helicopter and ATVS. But, still no Matt. “By Sunday morning, I just had to do something,” Frank Trezza said. “We took two car loads of family and friends and circulated flyers throughout the area. When we started to run out of flyers we were given directions to Staples to get more printed. As we drove down Larkin Drive, I happened to look in the parking lot and spotted a car that looked like my son’s. He had a red Ford Taurus SES. We pulled up but did not see anyone in the car. We got out and went over to the car. I saw my son lying across the front seat. His feet were near the passenger’s door and his head was under the steering wheel. “We broke the door open. Next to his body was an empty bottle of aspirin and empty cans of Red Bull energy drink. His car keys were under his body.” West Orange, N.J., Police Captain John Buoye said the young man’s death is being ruled a suicide-accidental pending the autopsy report. “There was nothing suspicious,” he said. But to Matt’s parents a lot of things don’t make sense. His car, they said, was backed into the parking space. “He never backed into a space. The few friends he was acquainted with in Monroe told police they had not seen or heard from him. The police also told The Photo News they estimate he had been dead for one or two days. He had been missing for five days. “ Frank and Diane Trezza just want to know where he was during the rest of the time. “Who was he with?” asks the father. “Where was he? We just want piece of mind.”