{"id":521265,"date":"2026-03-13T14:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521265\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:14:13","slug":"body-found-during-missing-person-investigation-identified-as-omaha-deacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521265\/","title":{"rendered":"Body found during missing person investigation identified as Omaha deacon"},"content":{"rendered":"

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Omaha Police Officer\u2019s Association is reporting the murder of a deacon at St. Peter\u2019s Catholic Church.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a social media post Friday morning, OPOA said John Zak was murdered in Omaha on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Omaha police took a man into custody Thursday following a vehicle pursuit<\/a>\u00a0tied to an\u00a0investigation into Zak\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Officers responding to a missing persons call went to a home near 36th and Cass streets at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and found the body of a man, identified as Zak.<\/p>\n

The investigation led police to search for a blue Mazda SUV. Officers spotted the vehicle near 13th Street and Interstate 80 at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday and attempted a traffic stop. <\/p>\n

The driver sped away, but the pursuit ended near 11th and Martha streets, where a man was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutstanding investigative work by our detectives helped quickly identify a person of interest. When uniformed patrol officers spotted the individual Thursday morning, they pursued him until a person of interest was taken into custody,\u201d OPOA writes in the post.<\/p>\n

A family member, Martin Zak, 36, was booked in the Douglas County jail Thursday night on charges of criminal homicide, operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, and felony theft by unlawful taking.<\/p>\n

In a statement online<\/a>, St. Peter\u2019s Church said Zak\u2019s death was a great shock to his family and their parish.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information is asked to contact the OPD Homicide Unit at 402-444-5656. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-7867, on the P3 Tips app, or\u00a0online.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"OmahaOmaha Police had a home near 36th and Cass streets taped off Thursday morning, March 12, 2026. OPD is investigating a homicide after a missing person case led them to discover a body at the home near 36th and Cass streets.(Ron Johnson \/ WOWT)<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Stay with First Alert 6 for updates. <\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Watch breaking news unfold on our livestream. Download the First Alert 6 streaming app<\/a> to your TV or find us in your favorite streaming platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Omaha Police Officer\u2019s Association is reporting the murder of a deacon at St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[235184,235183,235186,25201,4,450,6906,90944,235188,235189,64265,451,694,46485,184336,46405,46380,51399,6270,235187,235192,235193,26214,1584,698,235191,235185,3,140018,22880,170901,22881,170902,1583,84866,5350,235190,219793,452,453,10129],"class_list":["post-521265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-11th-and-martha","tag-13th-and-martha","tag-13th-street","tag-body-found","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-car","tag-deacon","tag-deacon-murdered","tag-deacon-zak","tag-family-member","tag-headlines","tag-homicide","tag-homicide-investigation","tag-i-80","tag-i80","tag-interstate-80","tag-investigating","tag-investigation","tag-john-zak","tag-man-in-custody","tag-martin-zak","tag-missing-man","tag-missing-person","tag-murder","tag-murdered","tag-nebraska-crime","tag-news","tag-omaha-crime","tag-omaha-police","tag-omaha-police-officers-association","tag-opd","tag-opoa","tag-police","tag-police-chase","tag-pursuit","tag-st-peters-catholic-church","tag-taken-into-custody","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-vehicle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}