WINFIELD TWP — Something troubled Scott D. Wygal one frigid February night at his home high on a hill overlooking crop fields and pastures.

Whatever it was, it was enough to scare the 37-year-old man into a frenzy. Not wasting time to put on both shoes, he ran out of his house on Leasureville Road in Winfield Township and into the darkness.

The single father of twin 9-year-old daughters vanished.

Wygal's decomposed body was discovered two months later just a half-mile away. Authorities report he was found April 12 tangled up in a barb wire fence behind a house on a former farm.

Neither the initial state police investigation, nor an autopsy, determined an official cause of death.

"It's being listed as 'equivocal' until they get it figured out," said Capt. Steven Ignatz, commanding officer of Troop D Butler.

In such cases, the term "equivocal" means of unknown causes. But Ignatz said foul play is not suspected.

"There's nothing suspicious about his death as far as I know," he said.

Investigators said they are awaiting results of toxicology tests and acknowledged the death could be drug related.

"He was a good guy and a friend to everybody," said John King, a friend of Wygal's who owns the home on Leasureville Road where he last lived. "He did not like bullies and he would stand up for anybody (who) was picked on."

King knew his friend was struggling and opened up his home to him.

"He had issues," King said. "I tried to help him."

King would not elaborate on those issues. He said Wygal loved his daughters and talked about them often despite not being as active in their lives as he would have liked.

"He wasn't in their lives as much as he'd have liked, but they were always in his thoughts," King said.

Another man living at the house told the Butler Eagle during a brief conversation that Wygal recently got out of drug rehab. That same roommate, however, could not be reached for additional comments later in the day.

Court records reveal Wygal had a lengthy criminal history spanning from 1999 up until last year, mainly in Allegheny County. Most of those arrests and convictions appear to be for drug offenses.

Cranberry Township police arrested him in 2009 for driving on drugs and alcohol. He eventually pleaded guilty to driving under the influence.

Wygal's most recent conviction was for possession of a controlled substance in June 2018 in Pittsburgh.

He was sentenced to 15 to 30 days in jail followed by 12 months' probation. Additionally, he was ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.

It was not known if Wygal was employed at the time he disappeared, but King said he had multiple jobs.

Among those jobs, according to Wygal's Facebook page, were cell phone sales, guide for a bike touring business, bartender and mortgage broker.

Wygal's final Facebook post was a photo of his daughters posted in July 2017. The Butler Eagle could not reach his family for comment. Authorities said his mother and brother live in Valencia, and King said his father lives in Florida.

It was not immediately clear how long Wygal lived at the home on Leasureville Road or how he spent his final days there.

Ignatz provided some details gathered by criminal investigators.

On an unknown February evening, King ordered an Uber to pick him up at the house, while Wygal and the other roommate remained at the residence. Reviewing the police report, Ignatz said King told authorities Wygal was gone when he returned home.

"(The other) roommate told him that Wygal believed that the police were at the residence and coming after him. And he ran out of the residence through a field," Ignatz said. "The roommate realized there was nobody chasing this guy and yelled at him, (but) Wygal insisted he was being chased and kept running. That was the last time Wygal was seen."

King canvassed the area on foot and on an all-terrain vehicle, but to no avail. Police said he ultimately called Wygal's mother and told her he couldn't find her son.

Investigators said no formal missing person's report was ever filed. However, it is not known if anyone ever reported what happened to the authorities, either.

King kept looking for Wygal.

Jim Endlich, who lives on 18 acres of farmland on Bicker Road, recalled seeing King on an ATV on his nearby property April 8. He never met him before that day.

One of Endlich's adult sons confronted King, who explained why he was there.

"He said, 'A guy was staying with me for a while, and in the middle of the night two months ago he disappeared,'" Endlich said.

Days later, Wygal's body was discovered on nearby property owned by Endlich's neighbor.

According to Ignatz, the man at first believed he stumbled upon bones about 250 feet behind his home. The remains were tangled around a fence in the brushy area of a field. The condition of the body suggested it had been there for weeks.

The police crime unit took over the case and conducted interviews of neighbors, which eventually helped them identify Wygal.

Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr was also called to the scene.

Barr said the body did not appear to have any trauma, adding that Wygal was wearing a T-shirt under a windbreaker, pants with empty pockets and one tennis shoe.

Troopers later found the mate to that shoe at King's home.

"So, he apparently ran out with only one shoe," Ignatz said.

An autopsy was performed that night, but an official cause of death is pending toxicology reports.

Those results, Barr noted, could take several weeks or more.

"It's sad that he disappeared like that and was missing for so long," Ignatz said.