Shot in Head, Man Sits in Chair a Week Until Found by Brother

A taxidermist struck in the head by a fragment of a bullet fired through his window sat unconscious in an easy chair for a week until someone found him and took him to a hospital where he was in critical condition today.

David Kostichka, 57, was suffering from hypothermia, malnutrition and dehydration when his brother and a neighbor broke into his locked home Saturday, seven days after a bullet whistled through his kitchen window.

A 16-year-old boy was being held in connection with the shooting, which the Milwaukee Sentinel, quoting anonymous sources, said may have stemmed from a quarrel with Kostichka.

Kostichka was listed in critical condition today in St. Vincent Hospital at Green Bay.

The taxidermist was found unconscious in an easy chair in the living room of his one-bedroom house. A television was blaring, as it apparently had been since the Feb. 16 shooting, and dead animals in various stages of stuffing lay nearby.

The telephone was just beyond the man’s reach. The house was locked, although relatives said Kostichka had rarely locked his doors.

Sheriff Leroy Klein attributed Kostichka’s survival in part to the fact that his body temperature had been reduced in the cold house.