Two people found dead outside The Miriam Hospital in Providence were homeless and likely died at least in part due to brutal cold weather, police said Friday.
Irina Kozav, 75, and her son, Stanislaw Kozav, 49, were found dead in a car in a Miriam Hospital parking lot on Wednesday evening. According to Providence police spokesperson Kristy dosReis, they were believed to have been living out of their car at the time.
“The investigation indicates weather related deaths, with possible contributing health factors,” dosReis said in an email. “Detectives have ruled out foul play.”
The exact cause of the deaths are not yet clear. According to a police incident report, a nurse looked through the window of the car and found the two people unresponsive in the driver and passenger seats of a car. The nurse then contacted police assigned to the hospital.
A spokesperson for Brown University Health, which operates Miriam Hospital, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The deaths of the Kozavs are at least the second and third deaths authorities in Providence have attributed to cold weather this year. A man was found dead on a downtown sidewalk in January. He was later identified by family as 48-year-old Ryan Boisvert.
In the wake of Boisvert’s death, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches called for a coordinated campaign to ensure no one risks spending a night outside in the cold.
“No single organization can solve this alone,” the council said in a January press release. “It is only through committed partnership and shared accountability that we can build a system strong enough to prevent future deaths. We urge every sector partner to join us in a commitment to working collaboratively to implement these lifesaving measures.”
Communities across Rhode Island have opened warming centers during the extended brutal cold stretch of the first part of the year. The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency maintains a full list of those locations. The 2-1-1 help line, operated by the United Way of Rhode Island, can also connect people to services.
