NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Laura Antiporek said Tuesday that she can't get the image and the smell of her dad's burned body out of her head.
She said she found her 68-year-old father, Dennis Antiporek, dead inside the sauna at his condominium complex in North Miami Beach.
"I can't take the heat," Laura Antiporek said as she described the intense heat coming from the room.
She and her family had been preparing to celebrate Dennis Antiporek's birthday next week. Instead, they're preparing for his funeral.
"While I called 911, I was opening the door so I could breathe," Laura Antiporek said.
The family claims the timer outside the sauna was not working when Dennis Antiporek died. His face was unrecognizable when his daughter found him.
An attorney for the family claims he was "cooked alive."
"We believe at this point in time that he died by asphyxiation by becoming overheated," family attorney Douglas Ede said.
Dennis Antiporek had some health issues, his family admits, but he had used the sauna before without any problems.
Family members are planning to file lawsuits against the property owner, the management company and manufacturer of the sauna.
Follow Local 10 News on Twitter @WPLGLocal10