Family waited more than one month to learn of loved one’s death on Jackson Square roof

Attila Csanyi was found dead on the roof of Jackson Square on May 2.

But it took more than a month for his family - who had been desperately searching for the mentally ill man for weeks - to learn of his death.

Every day, I was calling them. Every single day," Richard, the 28-year-old's twin brother, told The Spectator.

Richard said he first contacted Hamilton police on May 5 to report that Attila, who had schizophrenia and was homeless, was missing.

A few officers he reached over the phone even told him they knew his brother from the streets, he says. Attila was also known to police from mental health calls.

But it wasn't until June 5 that the family found out about Attila's death after police issued a news release asking the public to help identify the man found dead on Jackson Square.

The family is mourning the loss of their loved one - once a promising young star baseball player before his mental illness started to erode his life.

But they're also trying to fathom how police failed to inform them of his May 2 death given they'd been calling about his whereabouts for weeks.

The ending to his short life feels so devastating, and it feels so much worse by how none of us knew how long ago he had died," said cousin Gina Csanyi-Robah, accusing the police of incompetence."

In response to The Spectator's questions Monday, police spokesperson Jackie Penman said the service is sorry for the delay in identifying the deceased.

We're reviewing our handling of the case to see what could have been done along the way that might have led to that earlier identification for the family."

On Friday morning, Attila's social worker saw the police sketch of a man with long, curly hair that accompanied the release and told him he'd better check it out, Richard says.

When I looked at that image, right away, I could tell that was Attila."

The news release also included a photo of the clothes Attila was wearing at the time of his death and jewelry, which Richard says his girlfriend gave his brother.

Oh, it's like I got hit with a cannonball."

In the news release issued at 5 a.m. on Friday, police said they believed the man's lifestyle was a contributing factor in his death" and didn't consider his passing to be suspicious.

Then, in an update that same day just before 11 a.m., police issued an update thanking the community for several calls" that led to a confirmed identity."

The release also referred to the 28-year-old as transient" and known to frequently attend the downtown core."

Richard says he called the phone number on the news release to ask police if his brother had died. The officer he reached said it was 100 per cent Attila."

It looks like the cause of death was a drug overdose, Richard says, but expects it will take a few weeks for forensic testing to determine this.

Police say an initial autopsy didn't identify a cause of death. They are waiting for toxicology results.

Around 8 p.m. on May 2, someone called 911 to report two men lying on the roof of Jackson Square. When paramedics arrived, one man got up and left, but Attila was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police ran his fingerprints twice through an automated finger identification system provided by the RCMP but they didn't find a match, despite having Attila's prints on file from previous dealings with him.

The prints were good, quality prints but we have no idea why there wasn't a match," Penman said.

An image of the deceased was also circulated to various units in the service, including patrol, the Social Navigator, and ACTION (Addressing Crime Trends in Our Neighbourhoods), she noted.

It was also sent to lodging homes and shelters, Penman said. So nobody was able to identify him."

Somehow, police failed to connect the dots.

It's clear that there were two parallel investigations happening: one to identify a deceased individual and the second to find a missing person, and both were active," Penman said.

At some point in time, there are probably a few places that they should have connected, and we need to do a thorough investigation to see where those touchpoints have occurred."

Penman said family reported him missing May 28, which is not what Richard told The Spectator.

The Mississauga resident says his first call to police was May 5. He followed up with subsequent calls. However, police discouraged him from making a missing-person report, which he did officially on May 15, Richard says.

Before then, his brother's social worker had already set in motion a Form 47, which allows police to apprehend a mental health patient not following a community treatment order.

She did that in early May, after Attila didn't show up to pick up his ODSP cheque, which Richard says was unusual for his brother.

Apart from the Form 47 putting Attila on police's radar, he was well-known to police, he says. He also sent photos to police just in case.

With police efforts seeming to go nowhere, the family - which had been searching every nook and cranny" of Hamilton - made a plea for help on Facebook.

I've had more of a response from people - random strangers - than I've had from the police department. That's what's upsetting about it," Richard said.

Attila had found relative stability at a residential care facility but was kicked out when he brought strangers by the home during the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Richard says.

Instead of just kicking out his guests, they kicked him out with the guests, and put him out on the street, and that's not a good place for someone recovering, especially if he needs to find shelter."

Gina Csanyi-Robah was upset by how the police news release referred to her cousin as transient" and that his lifestyle" contributed to his death.

Their description of such a vulnerable person that was so broken by the system was like a slap in the face, even after his death."

Penman agreed words matter" and said the news release could have been written differently.

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based city hall reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com