Homeowner finds secret room, locates owner of treasures inside

(WJBK) - A couple makes a historic find while doing some renovations at their home, but what they found behind one of the walls is someone's family treasure. 

Kathy Nedaliz-Zakrzewski is 70 years old and lives in South Carolina, but as a child she lived with her parents and grandparents in a home on Carpenter Street in Hamtramck.

A man named Ricardo Bush lives in the home now and on Friday while doing some renovating he discovered a secret room upstairs. Inside were two old steamer trunks addressed to a man named Daniel Kozak.

"When I saw the big trunks I'm thinking old clothes or maybe some silver coins or something - but this is more precious," Bush said.

He found old photographs, documents, and letters in Polish and Russian.

Bush called FOX 2 on Saturday hoping we could help find the family and by Sunday, our story had reached genealogists all over the world.

Kathy's ex-husband sent it to her on Facebook

"He says look at this site so I pulled it up and lo and behold there's my father looking at me and I thought what is this?" she said.

Turns out the photos we had shown of a handsome man in his military uniform and a tuxedo are photos of Kathy's dad, Mike, who passed away in the 1990s.

Daniel Kozak was her grandfather

"He'd walk around the house playing his accordion, just singing -- singing in Russian or Polish or something. I had no idea what he was saying but it was pretty," Kathy said.

Memories Kathy cherishes and now we're sending more her way.

The trunks are stuck in that room until renovations are complete, but the old photos and documents are now headed to South Carolina.

There are so many old letters, including one postmarked 1923.

Kathy's hoping to have them translated and learn so much more about her family.