A federal judge with memory problems, who was reported missing earlier this week and was last seen trying to get inside a closed store and then driving off, was found alive on Thursday night.
91-year-old Edwin Kosik was found about 100 yards, from his car in a wooded area of Dunmore, outside Scranton, U.S. Marshall Martin Pane said.
Kosik was conscious at the time he was found, and was taken to a hospital, he said.
"We're hopeful he will have a full recovery," Pane said.
Kosik takes medication for memory loss and stopped hearing cases last month; he disappeared from his home on Tuesday night that sparked an intensive search involving the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and state police.
Two boys found Kosik’s Acura SUV at around 7:30 p.m., they noticed the judge’s ID in the vehicle and alerted law enforcement.
"I told him who I was, and his first statement to me was, 'You cut your hair.' He knew who I was," said Pane, who works in the federal courthouse in Scranton where Kosik spent more than 30 years on the bench.
Kosik was last seen at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, when he was trying to enter a grocery store pharmacy near his home outside Scranton. As the store was closed, he drove in the opposite direction from his house and left his wallet and phone at home.
Electronic signs on highway flashed the news of the judge’s disappearance. Officials asked people’s help in finding him. The state police searched the area with the help of a helicopter, but failed to find Kosik's gray SUV.
Kosik was appointed to the federal bench in 1986 by the President Ronald Regan, he is best known for imprisoning the corrupt judges in the “kids for cash” scandal.
Kosik's family reported him missing around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
AMandeep
