Grosse Pointe Woods detectives on last year’s ‘Obit Bandit’ case receive awards from department

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Families grieving a lost loved one are already dealing with considerable heartache and stress, but when a suspect started targeting those families by using obituaries and estate sales to find vacant properties he could break into to steal valuables, the tragedy was only magnified.

For being on the team of detectives from the Grosse Pointes who tracked down and arrested this suspect — dubbed the “Obit Bandit” — last year, two Grosse Pointe Woods Public Safety Department members were honored recently by Public Safety Director John Kosanke.

Kosanke announced that Detective Miles Adams received the 2024 Officer of the Year award and Detective Lt. Keith Waszak received the 2024 Supervisor of the Year award during an April 7 Woods City Council meeting. Waszak was unable to attend the meeting, but Adams was on hand with his wife and daughter.

“They were infuriated at what was happening,” Kosanke said of Adams and Waszak, who partnered with Grosse Pointe City’s Detective Michael Narduzzi and Detective Sgt. Joseph Adams on the case, which had victims in multiple Pointes and other metro Detroit cities — including late retired Wayne County 3rd Circuit Court Judge James Callahan, whose Grosse Pointe City home was struck before his funeral in January 2024.

“The suspect planned his criminal activities by reading obituaries and attending estate sales to scope out items inside the homes,” Kosanke said. “In some cases, the suspect pretended to be doing yard work on the property before breaking into the home.”

Kosanke said the Woods and City detectives were aided by officers in Grosse Pointe Farms and Shores and spent six days working “tirelessly around the clock” to nab the suspect — a 44-year-old Detroit man — on Feb. 27, 2024, when the interdepartmental Eastern Wayne County Special Response Team descended on the suspect’s home.

In March 2025, Kosanke said, the suspect pleaded guilty to five cases of burglary and was sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars.

“It was one of the worst crimes we had seen in a while,” Kosanke said. “Now he’s in prison for 10 years. It’s a job well done.”

Adams said he will have been with the department for the last seven or eight years in December. He said he was surprised to receive this award.

“I didn’t even know I was being considered,” Adams said.

He has been with the detective bureau since 2022, after initially working as a patrol officer.

“I just wanted to explore different opportunities at the department,” Adams said.

Kosanke said this wasn’t the only significant case in which Adams played a pivotal role last year.

“Detective Adams also spent 15 months on the investigation of a Harper Woods resident who was arrested in September 2024 for distributing drugs laced with fentanyl, which killed three Grosse Pointe Woods residents in June 2023,” Kosanke said.

Adams previously served as a school liaison officer, prior to the appointment of a full-time school resource officer last year.

Kosanke said Waszak has been with the department for 25 years, becoming a sergeant in 2010 and a lieutenant in 2014. His other honors include being named Officer of the Year in 2018.

Kosanke said Waszak is “well respected throughout the department for his outstanding work ethic, dedication and commitment.”

Waszak has been “instrumental in helping me” in the department, Kosanke said, noting that Waszak has worked on departmental technology, including an electronic payroll system.

“I appreciate all the work he’s put in to make our operations more efficient,” Kosanke said.

City Councilwoman Vicki Granger, the longest-serving council member, praised the award recipients after the meeting.

“I’m just so impressed with the work of both of these officers,” Granger said. “I think it reflects well on our director. (Kosanke) recognizes their interests and talents and encourages them. … We’re lucky to have these guys.”

Granger said Kosanke gets his officers the training and resources they need to do a good job.

Mayor Arthur Bryant said after the meeting that Adams and Waszak are “wonderful officers.”

“The two of them together — it’s amazing what you can do when you get a couple of good heads together,” Bryant said. “It’s nice to be able to present awards when great work is done. John Kosanke has a wonderful force of people here.”