Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 50-year-old Wayne Kozak of Eden has been sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski to a determinate sentence of 23 years in prison followed by 5 years of post-release supervision.

On April 20, 2017, police responded to a home on East Eden Road in the Town of Eden where they found the defendant’s mother, 79-year-old Mary Kozak, dead from a gunshot wound.

Pennsylvania State Police located the defendant several hours later at a motel in Erie, Pennsylvania where he was taken into custody without incident.

Kozak pleaded guilty to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class “B” violent felony, in October 2018.

DA Flynn commends the Eden Police Department, New York State Police and Pennsylvania State Police for identifying and locating the defendant as well as the investigative work of Lt. John McCarthy of the Eden Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michael D. Smith of the DA’s Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Rachel L. Newton of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau.