Here is the text from the December 19 Newsday (Long Island) story. My condolences to the family. I can't believe that these d****** stooges from Macy*s didn't have the presence of mind to FIND OUT what happened to one of their own when his car was sitting in the parking lot and he never clocked out. [Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image] .

Body in Store Over 2 Days
Macy’s Worker Found In Ceiling Apparently Electrocuted

By Sumathi Reddy
Staff Writer

December 18, 2003, 9:32 PM EST

Theresa Pignatelli didn't think it too unusual when her longtime companion didn't return to their Copiague home Monday night.

That's the kind of tireless worker George Poldrugovaz, 60, was, she said Thursday. An electrician for Macy's for nearly 20 years, Poldrugovaz worked night shifts and weekends, rarely taking a day off.

But Tuesday night, Pignatelli thought Poldrugovaz's absence was a little unusual, and by Wednesday morning she was becoming anxious when she got a call from the Macy's store in Douglaston, Queens: They didn't know where he was.

That evening, Pignatelli learned from Macy's that Poldrugovaz's body was found in the store's ceiling. Police said Poldrugovaz, last seen Monday morning, appeared to have been electrocuted, his dead body there for more than two days.

A Macy's official wouldn't comment on the incident Thursday except to say it was under investigation and they are "deeply saddened" and wanted to express their "sincere sympathies to the family."

Pignatelli and her son, Ralph Stanzione, said they are livid that store employees didn't detect Poldrugovaz's absence earlier. "The way he died," Pignatelli said, crying. "The way he died. That store. They don't have help. You can't have one person doing everything."

Stanzione of Lindenhurst said that after his mother was alerted that Poldrugovaz was missing, he started calling local police departments and yelling at store officials. "I told them, 'I'm gonna come in myself' ... " he recalled. "You're in the store. You're not looking in the borough of Brooklyn. You're looking in a store."

Stanzione and Pignatelli questioned why store employees didn't suspect something was wrong after he hadn't punched out and his car was in the parking lot.

"To be left in the ceiling in the foyer like that in the lobby and not to even do the simplest thing to retrace the steps, it's disrespectful," Stanzione said. "I'm not happy with that whole situation," he added. "It's a tragedy, what happened."

Friends and family said Poldrugovaz grew up in Brooklyn, studied engineering at a local college and served in the Army for several years.

They described him as a simple and quiet man, tall and skinny, who liked to take his boat out and go fishing.

Poldrugovaz worked at different Macy's stores for about 20 years and hoped to retire next year, Pignatelli said.

"We wanted to enjoy" retirement, Pignatelli said. "We wanted to enjoy it instead of having him get up early every day in the morning and come home late at night and he's in all that traffic ... "

"He never even took a day off," she said. "He was so good."

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.