SCHERERVILLE | Police are asking for the public's help in the investigation of a Highland man who was found dead Tuesday in a Schererville drainage ditch.

Anthony "Tony" Packauskas, 46, had been dead for two or three days, the Lake County coroner's office said.

Packauskas, of the 9700 block of Fifth Street, was last heard from Nov. 13. He worked at a Highland car wash, according to the Highland Police Department Web site.

Police want to know where Packauskas was from the time he disappeared until the time his body was found in the Central Avenue Ditch on Winston Court near Kennedy Avenue. Anyone who had contact with him since mid-November is asked to call Schererville Detective Cmdr. Peggi Calderaro or Detective Patrick Rosado at (219) 322-5000.

Calderaro said she hopes someone will recognize Packauskas and remember interacting with him in the last month and a half.

Finding Packauskas' body gives the family some closure, although they still want to know what happened to him, said his sister, Judy Shearin.

"It's a big mystery," she said.

Shearin spoke to Packauskas over the phone a few days before he went missing. He was last seen outside of his Highland apartment, where he left his wallet, keys and cell phone.

"It's like he walked out the door, and that was it," she said.

A neighbor said that Packauskas said he was sick. Shearin said she wonders if her brother took an over-the-counter medication that made him disoriented, or if he unintentionally combined a medication with alcohol. His body was found without a coat on.

Shearin said the family speculated that, if his disappearance involved foul play, it would be someone that Packauskas knew. Maybe someone picked him up, something bad happened and someone panicked, she said.

He wouldn't have gotten in a car with someone he didn't know, and he would've put up a fight if he was being held against his will, Shearin said.

Packauskas was a kind-hearted man who didn't miss work, and he kept in regular contact with his family. He had a lot of friends in Illinois, where he grew up. He didn't drive, so he rode a bike or walked everywhere, Shearin said.

"He didn't have an easy life, but he was a good person," she said.