AUSTINTOWN — After searching for a local man missing since July 3, police made a sad discovery Tuesday.

The body of Ronald Suprynowicz was found near the Interstate 680 on-ramp on Meridian Road.

Police gave scant information, but said the 54-year-old Austintown man does not appear to have been subject to foul play. Family said they were told he also did not appear to have been struck by a car.

Lt. Shawn Hevener said in an email that it appeared Suprynowicz had been there for a few days, and his body has been transported to the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office. Police said the investigation remains open.

Family members said Suprynowicz was identified by the picture circulated by local media over the past week. Suprynowicz was reported missing by an ex-girlfriend July 3.

His sister, Mandi Ezzo of Boardman, said Suprynowicz had been struggling with drug and alcohol addiction for years and recently was estranged from the family because of it.

She said he was staying at a halfway house on Meridian Road, but was leaving there soon, and her other brother was helping him remove some of his belongings on July 3.

Ezzo said Suprynowicz had slipped and hit his head that day and was bleeding. She said he had also been in liver failure for several years, and had medicine for that condition and for seizures, but those medications had all been left at his residence.

Ezzo said on July 3, Suprynowicz was walking to buy beer at a local gas station at the corner of Mahoning Avenue and Meridian Road, where he was well known. She said he was intoxicated at the time, still had the cut on his head, and that was the last time he was seen before Tuesday.

Suprynowicz may have had troubles with addiction, and family said he was in rehab several times, but he was not known to be in trouble with the law.

Mahoning County Court records show he was cited in 2012 by Ohio State Highway Patrol for failure to obey a traffic signal, a minor misdemeanor. And in 2016 he pleaded guilty to another minor misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, for which he was fined $100.

Despite his struggles, Ezzo and her daughter, Samantha Eisenbraun – also of Boardman – said they have fond memories of Suprynowicz.

“My uncle and I were very very close,” Eisenbraun said. “He was very special to me, I’m going to miss him a lot.”

Eisenbraun said she remembers that they used to love riding their bikes together through Mill Creek Park or to get ice cream.

Ezzo recalled another memory of the two, from her daughter’s early childhood.

The story goes that while Suprynowicz was pushing a young Samantha on the swing, she caught what she thought was a butterfly,. When she closed her hand around it, though, she crushed what turned out to be a bumblebee. But not before it stung her.

“It bit me!” she yelled.

“And Ron called her ‘Sambo the Bee Slayer’, and that was his name for her from then on,” Ezzo said.

Ezzo said her brother also loved animals and formed very strong bonds with them. She also said he was a “very, very talented” artist who could draw absolutely anything.

Supryowicz’s former brother-in-law, Mark Rauschenberg of Austintown, said he was “an extremely talented artist. The guy could draw like no other.”

Rauschenberg said Supryowicz had been offered a full ride to a prestigious art school, but declined to pursue it for personal reasons that unfortunately did not work out for him and the opportunity was lost.

“The guy would give you the shirt off his back,” Rauschenberg said. “I never heard him speak ill of anybody. He didn’t deserve the life he was dealt.”

Ezzo echoed the sentiments.

“I want people to know he was a good person, just one with a very bad problem, and he was very loved,” she said. “And I want people to be aware that if they’re struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, there is so much help available. Just listen to your family, because they are trying to help, not punish you.”

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