Finding Eugene: Search intensifies for missing Broken Arrow man

Written By: John Dobberstein

(BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) Since Eugene Kozuk walked away from his mother’s home in the middle of the night 12 days ago, family and friends have lurched between hopeful resolve and, increasingly, dealing with despair.

Read this story on Broken Arrow Sentinel here.

Kozuk, a 46-year-old man who is schizophrenic, diabetic and has several severe medical issues, was seen on a surveillance camera leaving the house on Indianwood Avenue near Little Rock Street in Broken Arrow at 4 a.m. on May 24. But he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

The Broken Arrow Police Department was notified about an hour later and a Kasey Alert was issued by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol later that day. Police are continuing to investigate the case, but rumored sightings and other leads have not panned out.

Kozuk is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 230 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, and he was seen wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and black shorts. Family said he doesn’t have a wallet, phone or shoes and he is medically and mentally disabled.

Without needed medical care, his sodium levels may be low, which would cause him to hallucinate and be delirious.

The family is working with law enforcement, as well as private volunteers and search-and-rescue teams in hopes of locating Kozuk. They also put together a GoFundMe to raise money to defer the cost of hiring private search help. His family said Kozuk was believed to be headed north toward 131st Street when he left home.

So far, Broken Arrow and Bixby police have continued to follow up on leads. Red Dirt OSAR, a search-and-rescue group, responded with search dogs to comb the area for signs of Kozuk, to no avail.

Kozuk has survived many other tough physical battles and the family is hoping and praying for a miracle —  but with the passage of time that is seeming less likely.

“We want to know where he is,” said Emily Kozuk Old, Eugene’s sister. “Unfortunately, although I want him found, in my heart I feel like he couldn’t have made it this long without any of his medication or food.”

Surviving a scare

Kozuk has been dealing with challenges throughout his life, his family told the Sentinel. In first grade he tested out at a college level and, Emily said, was considered to have genius-level intelligence. At 17, he became schizophrenic, and he then began battling drug addiction.

He’d been living in a group home in Claremore since 2021. He was placed there after being found in a catatonic state and spending 3 months in the hospital receiving special treatments. Kozuk eventually recovered, “but he needed to learn how to do everything – eat and drink, button his shorts, tie his shoes,” Old said.

Prior to that, more than a decade ago, Kozuk had moved in with a friend in Houston and, according to Old, the friend took Kozuk off all his medication and gave him LSD.

That same friend is back in the area and has been harassing Kozuk’s family, Old said, accusing them of not caring for Kozuk and promising to “find out what really happened” for himself.

According to Old, on May 23 Kozuk was discharged from Copps Residential Care, with staff explaining that his medical issues with high blood pressure and sodium had become too difficult to maintain – even though he had home health care coming in three times per week and his mother, Barbara Donnelly, had been driving from Broken Arrow up to Claremore for his doctor appointments.

Donnelly picked Kozuk up from the home, but he was apparently unsettled. “That day he called one of his friends to pick him up, and the friend wouldn’t. So then he said, ‘I guess I’ll just walk off into a field and die.’ He’s told us a million times wanted out of group homes,” Old said.

Very early on May 24, a video camera at his mother’s house shows Kozuk walking away after vomiting in the driveway and next to trash cans. He went over to a neighbor’s house and laid down on their porch, saying something about breakfast, witnesses said. The neighbor told him it wasn’t breakfast time yet and to go back home.

Kozuk was actually searching for a different neighbor who often had breakfast with Kozuk, but the family believes Kozuk was having a medical episode and likely was disoriented. Old said most of the neighbors knew about Kozuk’s medical conditions.

In social media posts, neighbors reported seeing Kozuk around 4:30 a.m. walking around in the neighborhood, ringing doorbells at some of the houses. One neighbor said he saw Kozuk make it back to the front porch of his grandmother’s house and that’s when he went back to bed.

Holding out hope

Kozuk was battling diabetes, kidney disease and syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SAIDH), which would deplete his sodium to dangerously low levels and often impaired his speech and could send him into a coma.

Old said it’s not clear whether Kozuk encountered anyone else around that time, but they did not find any suspicious communications in his phone. Old has contacted Oklahoma City Metro Search and Rescue to help, and her daughter’s church is also discussing ways to help. Local hospitals and behavioral health institutions are also being monitored.  

In the early hours after walking away from home, Old said it’s possible Kozuk might have known where he was going or what he was searching for, but if his sodium levels dropped he wouldn’t know where to go or what to do.

“He left without his shoes, his phone, his wallet, his dentures, his cigarettes,” she said. “He would not go anywhere without his cigarettes.”

Anyone who sees Kozuk should call the Broken Arrow Police Department at (918) 259-8400, or dial 9-1-1.