Autopsy slated in Kaczala's death

6/10/2010

Former Lucas County Auditor Larry Kaczala was neither a patient nor visiting someone at Toledo Hospital when he apparently jumped from the fifth floor of a parking garage there on Tuesday, investigators said yesterday.

Lucas County Coroner James Patrick said his office planned to conduct an autopsy today. He declined to comment further on what the investigation has shown other than to say Mr. Kaczala's death appears to have been intentional.

Mr. Kaczala, 53, of Ottawa Hills was pronounced dead at the hospital following the incident about 11:35 a.m. Tuesday.

His car was parked nearby in a remote area of the fifth - and highest - level of the parking garage that connects the Conrad Jobst and Harris McIntosh towers at Toledo Hospital.

Toledo Police Capt. Ray Carroll said investigators are reviewing Mr. Kaczala's cellular phone records as part of their attempt to ascertain what happened and possibly the reasons behind it.

"We do both," he said. "What we want to find out is what happened and sometimes the reasons for things happening correlate with what happened."

A longtime Republican, Mr. Kaczala was elected to three terms as Lucas County auditor before his defeat in 2006 by Anita Lopez.