DUNMORE -- A federal judge from Lackawanna County is in fair condition in the hospital after being rescued from the woods
Judge Edwin Kosik was missing for almost two days when two teenagers spotted his car in the woods in Dunmore.
The Dunmore Reservoir is a popular place for hiking. A road near the reservoir leads to woods and a network of ATV trails.
These young men say it's not a place for regular cars and that's what struck them as odd when they saw an SUV stuck on a log in the woods. Little did they know it belonged to the missing federal judge.
Deep in the woods in Dunmore, just after dark, a story had an unexpected but happy ending: an ambulance took 92-year-old Federal Judge Edwin Kosik to be checked out.
Hospital officials say the judge is in fair condition after likely spending two days lost in those woods. Judge Kosik went missing Tuesday night.
That unexpected ending has two unlikely heroes. Joe Delvecchio, 18, and Alec Yanisko, 15, were in the right place at the right time Thursday evening.
"We're very thankful to these two young men that they saw this vehicle, happened to be in this area, fortunately," said U.S. Marshal Martin Pane.
The students at Dunmore High School were out riding an ATV near the Dunmore reservoir nature trail off Tigue Street.
They found an SUV about a quarter mile from the nearest road stuck on a log with two smashed windows. The boys reached inside and found a Sam's Club card with the name Edwin Kosik on it.
"We went to type it in online to see if we knew them or anything like that and we seen all the attention it had," said Joe Delvecchio.
The boys knew then that the judge was in trouble. They went home, talked to their parents first, and then called police. They led officers to the secluded spot in the woods.
"It's more like for ATVs," said Alec Yanisko. "It was on a log, and there was no way of getting it off, like, by himself."
Police found Judge Kosik not far from his SUV lying on the ground but OK. The change in weather 24 hours later has the boys thinking that their timing was just right.
"Just glad that he's alive," said Alec.
"We're glad he's OK, glad that we could help out," added Joe.
The boys did not see Judge Kosik's rescue but they told us that when he is fully recovered, they hope to meet him.