The local music community is mourning for Randy Ponzio after he was found dead in a Downtown Eastside rooming house Saturday.
The body of Yaletown musician Bruce Randall “Randy” Ponzio was found after police received a call shortly before 5 p.m. to the Balmoral Hotel in the 100-block of East Hastings.
The 35-year-old solo musician and member of Quest Poetics won the Shore 104.3 FM Song Search 2011 grand prize with his track For The People.
Vancouver police spokesperson Const. Lindsey Houghton said there were no obvious signs of trauma, but police are treating his death as suspicious.
Police are awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death, he added.
Police appealed to the public in search of Ponzio, who went missing Nov. 15 after leaving a Vancouver residence at around 9 p.m. to go out for a walk.
“He failed to return and his disappearance sparked a search by police, family, friends, and many in the local music community,” Houghton said in a statement. “Despite extensive canvassing and searches in the Downtown Eastside, he was not located.”
Friends and fellow musicians expressed their grief and sadness on Facebook.
“You’ll live forever in your music, in the music you helped so many others create, in the artists and people you have shaped,” Amber Dawn wrote.
“From your aura, to your golden voice … You shined brother when you walked into a room and your voice was one of a kind,” Satya Goldness wrote. “I know we weren’t close but if that’s what you’re giving off to people you don’t really know, I can only imagine what those you loved received.”
Police are now appealing to anyone who saw Ponzio in his final days and hours to contact major crime investigators at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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