Krakow Cops Crack Murder Case After 15 Years

Joseph L., 53 years old, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment Oct. 30 for a murder he committed 15 years ago. In 2006, officers from the Krakow X-Files, a special department of police that deals with unexplained crimes, reopened an investigation into the disappearance of Jacek C. after becoming suspicious of Joseph L.

Police searched his garage with a georadar, a specialist device that uses radio waves to form images through solid objects like earth or walls, and came up short before continuing their investigation in the basement where they found the skeletal remains of Jacek C.

Joseph L. told the court that he acted in self-defence after his brother-in-law attacked him during a quarrel with a metal object.

After wrestling the metal object off him, Joseph L. proceeded to bludgeon Jacek C. around the head. Joseph L. realized that his brother-in-law was dead after hitting him several times on the head and decided to bury the body in the basement.

The court was not convinced by Joseph L’s. self-defence explanation, with the court finding his actions were premeditated after the testimony of an expert witness who stated that the victim had been tied up, gagged and beaten repeatedly around the head with a metal object. Family members of the victim felt that 12 years imprisonment was too lenient for the crime of murder.

The court’s decision took into account Joseph L’s. cooperation with helping police find the corpse and his lack of prior convictions, before passing sentence.

The Krakow Special Investigation Department has solved a range of difficult cases, most of which occurred more than a decade ago.
A famous case, solved in 2006, began when a woman from Krakow informed the police about the disappearance of her husband.
Police from the department investigating the case found her husband’s corpse hidden inside the kitchen wall. The wife and her lover had killed him. They were convicted of the murder and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.