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Body Found at Mcdonald Beach
Second Body Found in Pequannock Lake
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By MARGARET K. COLLINS
STAFF WRITER
PEQUANNOCK -- A man's body was found in a lake off Route 23 on Monday. It was
the second time in four days that the body of a middle-aged man was recovered
from a township lake or stream.
The body of Tony Kotevska, 40, of the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock, was
found in a lake at the vacant McDonald's Beach around 7:15 a.m. Monday. Police
said there was no sign of foul play with Kotevska or in the death of the man
whose body was found Friday. Authorities identified him Monday as Matthew
Shumeyko, 51, of Wayne. Shumeyko was a former chauffeur who often had served
players from the National Basketball Association.
Shumeyko's body was found Friday in a seldom-used brook off Route 23 near
Jackson Avenue, about a mile south of where Kotevska's body was discovered.
Pequannock officials said the two cases are unconnected.
The bodies are two of "almost 10" found in Morris County in the past few days,
said Paul Kalleberg of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. He said the string
of deaths is "strange" but coincidental. None of the others was in the
northeastern section of the county.
Workers from Pequannock's Department of Public Works were collecting garbage
along Alexander Avenue on Monday morning when they saw a body -- identified
later as Kotevska's -- submerged in the McDonald's Beach lake, police said. The
lake is on property that recently drew attention as the possible site of a
professional sports practice complex.
Kotevska's family last heard from him at 1 p.m. Sunday and called police, saying
they didn't know his whereabouts. Police on Monday said that after receiving the
call, they considered Kotevska an "endangered missing person" and began to
search for him.
The family declined to comment Monday, and police didn't release any other
details.
Shumeyko's family hadn't reported him missing, Kalleberg said. The Prosecutor's
Office and Pequannock police are working together on both cases.
Shumeyko's body was found Friday afternoon partially protruding from a iced-over
stream. An autopsy performed on Saturday determined there were no signs of
trauma to the body, Kalleberg said, making homicide unlikely.
The autopsy also ruled out a heart attack, Kalleberg said. He wouldn't say how
long Shumeyko had been dead or speculate on the possible cause. He said he was
still waiting for test results to show whether anything abnormal was in his
bloodstream.
A friend for 30 years, Judy Stelmack, described Shumeyko as "very sweet, quiet
and shy," someone who "came and went" without checking in with anyone regularly.
He loved to take long walks, she said.
"We used to call them walkabouts," Stelmack said Monday. "He'd just take off. He
loved nature and the woods."
Shumeyko was born in Newark and lived in Wayne for 45 years, according to
information the family provided to a funeral home. He was a longtime driver for
the Air Brook Limousine Co. -- formerly in Saddle Brook and now based in
Rochelle Park -- but hadn't worked there in recent years, said Steve Glasberg, a
company executive.
"He was the one who drove the van for the NBA," Glasberg said. "They really
liked him."
The company has a contract with the basketball teams coming in and out of area
airports for Knicks and Nets games at Madison Square Garden and the Continental
Arena.
Shumeyko is survived by his mother, Helen; a sister, Joanne Johnson of Detroit,
and two brothers, Daniel of Pompton Plains and Gregory of Suwanee, Ga.
A memorial service for Shumeyko is scheduled for 7:30 tonight at the Pequannock
Reformed Church, 530 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Wayne. In lieu of flowers, the
family requests that donations be made to the Pequannock Animal Shelter,
Washington Street, Pompton Plains
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