FIREFIGHTERS SAVE 7-YEAR-OLD DEJAN FROM BURNING HOSUE

When firefighters found 7-year-old Dejan Kocevski locked in the basement of his Cape Girardeau burning home in April 1982, the boy was unconscious and barely breathing.

His lungs were filling with smoke, and firefighters said he was within minutes of death when they discovered him lying at the bottom of the stairs. He was taken to the pediatric special care unit of Southeast Missouri Hospital where he required several weeks of hospitalization.

What firefighters did not find at the residence at 141 S. Sunset, were any adults. His mother, Olgica Kocevski, and her live-in boyfriend, Akbar Esker, had left the boy in the house by himself while they went on a trip to Peoria, Ill.

As investigators looked closer at the events that led young Kocevski to be locked in a burning house, they discovered a case of abuse and abandonment that eventually brought a nationwide outpouring of affection and compassion for the child.

Neither the landlords nor the neighbors were aware that a child lived in the house. The neighbors had seen Esker and Olgica Kocevski outside shoveling snow and raking leaves, but they had never seen the boy. Nor was there any evidence inside the house that a child lived there. There were no toys in the home.

Olgica Kocevski later testified at Esker's preliminary hearing that Esker kept the boy locked in the basement and would not allow her to go down to see him. He had the only key to the padlock on the basement door.

The only furnishings in the basement were a couch and a small cupboard. There was little food in the basement, just some cookies and a banana snack cake. Olgica Kocevski said Esker would feed him mostly snack food.

She also testified that Esker would become irritated when she mentioned the boy. On occasion he would strike her when she mentioned the child, she said.

Prosecutors said that Dejan Kocevski had not been given proper medical, dental, nutritional, educational and emotional care. When firefighters found him, he weighed about 30 pounds.

At first firefighters were unaware that anyone was in the house. They arrived at the scene shortly after 10:30 p.m. after they were notified by a passing motorcyclist who saw smoke coming from the house. The firefighters pounded on the door, but no one answered.

Fire Chief Charles Mills said the fire began in house around 10 p.m. when some basement wiring apparently shorted out.

Dejan Kocevski had been unable to escape the basement because the door at the top of stairs had been padlocked shut from the opposite side. The only other escape route from the basement was a door that led directly outside. But the door was bolted shut and difficult for the child to open because the flames of the fire were lapping at the door.

Mills said the firefighters arrived just in time to rescue the boy.

"He wouldn't have lasted any time at all," Mills said.

Olgica Kocevski and Esker were arrested when they returned to Cape Girardeau from Peoria. Both were charged with child abuse. The elder Kocevski was also charged with abandonment, but that charge was later dropped by prosecutor Stephen Limbaugh Jr., who said that an abandonment conviction required showing the child was permanently abandoned.

The trials of both were moved to Boone County on changes of venue. Olgica Kocevski agreed to plead guilty to the charges and to testify against Esker. But the judge in the case ruled that she was incompetent to testify at Esker's trial and ordered that she undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Esker was convicted in August and sentenced to five years in prison. Olgica Kocevski underwent the psychiatric evaluation but was found competent. She then pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to four years in prison.

The judge indicated she would be sent to prison unless the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to deport her. Because she and Esker had come to the United States from Canada, Olgica Kocevski was deported to Canada in December 1982.

Dejan Kocevski eventually returned to Europe with his father, Branko Kocevski.