The family of a Florida man found dead inside a sauna is preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the management company, claiming the sauna malfunctioned and caused the victim to burn and choke to death.
Dennis Antiporek, 68, was found dead in the sauna of his North Miami Beach condominium complex on Tuesday by his daughter who went searching for him, Local 10 reported. Antiporek's daughter said her father's body was unrecognizable when she saw him, an image she says she will never forget.
"When I opened the door, I looked and there was a black man in the sauna. It wasn't my dad so I shut the door and I looked, the clothes hanging [in] it was his clothes," daughter Laura Antiporek told CBS Mimi.
There were also bits of skin on the bench and on the floor, Ronnie Antiporek, the victim's wife, told the station.
A cause of death is pending an autopsy, but Dennis Antiporek's family believes the timer outside the sauna failed to turn off the heat inside, causing Antiporek to "choke alive," a lawyer representing the family told Local 10.
"We believe at this point in time that he died by asphyxiation by becoming overheated," attorney Douglas Ede said.
Though the victim had health issues, Antiporek used the sauna before and never had a problem, his relatives told Local 10.
In the meantime, the family is planning on filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the company in charge of the sauna, Elite Management, and the condo's homeowner's association, Eden Isles Condominiums. Both companies did not provide CBS Mimi with comment.
Dennis and his wife Ronnie were high school sweethearts, the wife told the station. They would have celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.
