“Anchorage Police have identified (T.R.E.L.) Zawko, age 21, as the man found dead yesterday at his Crescent Drive residence,” APD spokesperson Dani Myren wrote in a Saturday email on the case. “Police are investigating Mr. Zawko’s death as a homicide.”
APD have released few details on Zawko’s death, with police saying only that his body was discovered at about 1:30 p.m. by two roommates at a residence on the 1300 block of Crescent, slightly east of 36th Avenue’s intersection with the Seward Highway.
Friends and family say T.R.E.L., who was named after a license plate his mother saw while driving home from her waitressing job, was found dead in the garage of his residence but they don't yet know his cause of death.
News of T.R.E.L.'s death came as shock to anybody that knew him. People who knew him describe the man most just called "T" as a loving, friendly and free soul who was always full of life, and touched the life of everyone who had the pleasure to know him.
"T touched a lot of people," said Service High School classmate and friend, Cody Beltrami. "Whether he knew it or not, and whether you were close now, T still has that special spot in your heart because he was that one person who did reach out when you had nobody else to touch."
"He was full of life," said his best friend and father, Sean Zawko. "Nobody -- even if people didn't like him, they liked him."
APD’s crime scene team visited the residence Friday to collect evidence, but no further information on the case has been released.
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