By Judith Lucas and Tom Haydon
The Star-Ledger
UNION CITY, N.J. — The corrections officer named in a sarcastic thank you note left by two Union County Jail escapees last month committed suicide in the basement of his Sayreville home yesterday, authorities said.
The guard, Rudolph Zurick, 40, was scheduled to speak with Union County investigators at county police headquarters in Westfield yesterday morning as part of an ongoing probe into the brazen escape of the two violent inmates on Dec. 15.
But shortly before 9 a.m., Sayreville police found Zurick dead in the home he shared with his wife, Lisa, and 4-year-old daughter. He was shot in the head with his personal semi-automatic pistol, authorities said.
His death was ruled a suicide by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office yesterday afternoon.
Zurick’s attorney and a representative from his union said yesterday the escape investigation and media scrutiny had taken its toll on the 14-year corrections veteran.
“He was very depressed and distraught over the media attention. He was visibly upset,” said Kenneth Burkett, a delegate for PBA Local 199, which represents officers at the jail. “He just couldn’t believe what happened. He was a perfectionist.”
Zurick’s death comes as investigators continue to piece together how Otis Blunt, 32, of Toms River, and Jose Espinosa, 20, of Elizabeth, managed to burrow through the jail’s exterior wall, leap over a razor wire fence and disappear without anyone noticing their escape.
Espinosa is a member of the Bloods street gang who was scheduled to be sentenced this month for his role in a fatal drive-by shooting in 2005. Blunt was awaiting trial in the shooting of a Hillside convenience store manager.
Authorities have yet to determine where the inmates got the tools — a sharpened piece of wire and 10-pound hunk of iron — used to break through the cinder block wall, and why no one noticed the hole in Espinosa’s cell wall, which was covered by magazine pin-ups. It is also unclear exactly when the escape occurred because the men left stuffed dummies in their bunks as decoys.
Espinosa and Blunt remain on the lam and will be featured Saturday on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” in the latest of several public appeals for help.
Zurick was the officer who first reported the inmates missing when he discovered their empty cells around 5 p.m. on Dec. 15, and was also mentioned by name in a mocking note the men left behind. Taunting Zurick and his fellow officers with a hand-drawn smiley face, the note read: “Thank You Officer (Zurick) for the tools needed. You’re a real Pal! Happy Holidays.”
The note also featured a drawing of a hand with an upraised middle finger.
Despite the note, Zurick said he did nothing wrong and cooperated fully with the investigation, his attorney, Michael Mitzner, said.
Immediately after the escape, Zurick and other jail personnel submitted written reports to county investigators. This week, Union County Police Chief Daniel Vaniska said investigators had scheduled interviews with a dozen officers, beginning yesterday with Zurick.
“We just wanted to talk to him about his version of what went on,” Vaniska said. “We don’t know what to think. It’s strange.”
Mitzner said the probe was strictly administrative, and Zurick had not been accused of anything criminal. Lawyers for two other officers involved in the probe also said the investigation has not risen above the departmental level.
Penalties for administrative infractions range from suspension to termination, but no administrative charges have been filed against any of the officers, their attorneys said.
Mitzner said Zurick had been depressed about the situation, but sounded fine when they spoke over the phone on Monday.
“I don’t know why he did it. ... Obviously he was unhappy that an escape occurred and that his name got mentioned,” Mitzner said. “It’s hard to figure out what goes through one’s mind.”
Cars lined both sides of the road in front of Zurick’s home on Luke Street in Sayreville yesterday as people arrived and walked one or two at a time to the door and were quickly let inside.
Burkett, who worked out regularly with Zurick, said he was a champion power lifter and dedicated family man with a clean work record at the jail.
“He was a terrific man who never encountered any difficulties in the performance of his job. It’s an utter, utter tragedy,” Burkett said.
Copyright 2008 The Star-Ledger