Iowa City man found dead in the snow outside Robert A. Lee Recreation Center

Iowa City police say a man who was found dead in the snow Tuesday outside the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center may have been walking home on New Year's Eve.

Police were dispatched to the center at 220 S. Gilbert St. at about 2 p.m. Tuesday for a death investigation, where they found the body of 24-year-old Paul J. Biagas in the snow outside the building, according to a news release.

Investigators have no reason to suspect foul play, the release said.

Zach Diersen, a lieutenant in the Iowa City Police Department, said investigators believe Biagas may have been walking home to his apartment near downtown Iowa City.

"I would guess that it was New Year's Eve that he was actually walking home," Diersen said. "That's what our investigation is showing."

Diersen said it would likely take about two weeks for autopsy results to be made available.

The temperature in Iowa City was about 5 degrees with a wind chill of minus 10 degrees around the time Biagas was found, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in Iowa City on New Year's Day reached a low of minus 20 degrees with a wind chill of minus 36.

The Johnson County Medical Examiner's Office also responded to assist police, according to the release. The case remains under investigation by the police and medical examiner's office.

The rec center is closed for renovations through Sunday, according to the city.

Noe Tellez, a manager at Cactus, the downtown Mexican restaurant where Biagas worked for about a year and a half, said he last saw Biagas on Sunday.

Biagas stopped working as a bartender at Cactus about two months ago, Tellez said. But he stopped by on New Year's Eve and offered to help out since the restaurant was busy.

Tellez said Biagas and a roommate left Cactus just before 11 p.m. Sunday and that was the last time they saw each other. Tellez said he heard the news about Biagas' death on Wednesday when he got a text from a co-worker.

"Honestly I couldn’t believe it," he said.

Tellez said he saw Biagas as a son. Biagas would call Tellez if he got in trouble since he was from Texas and didn't have family in the area, Tellez said. Biagas' Facebook page lists his hometown as El Paso, Texas.

"I tried to be a dad to him all the time," he said.

Tellez said Biagas had not been drinking alcohol when he left the restaurant Sunday night.

Biagas' Facebook page says he studied at the University of Iowa, but left in 2017. When asked whether Biagas had been a student at UI, spokesperson Anne Bassett said "there's no one by that name listed in our directory."

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter: @sgrubermiller.