The trial of Karl P., an American accused of murdering his mother, has resumed in the District Court in Warsaw. Last year, the man was sentenced to 25 years in prison, although the woman's body was never found. The accused allegedly strangled his mother with a pillow, cut her body into pieces and threw it into the Vistula River. The man demands to be released from custody.
An invalid judgment was issued in this case in July last year. The District Court in Warsaw found Karl P., now 28, guilty of murdering his mother and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. The trial, which took place in a Warsaw court, was circumstantial. The woman's body was searched in the Vistula River by Polish services, assisted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but the body has not been found yet.
An appeal against the verdict was soon filed. It was submitted by both the prosecutor's office, which did not agree with the amount of the penalty imposed, as well as the representative of the subsidiary prosecutor and P.'s defense attorney, who demanded a life sentence. In June this year, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw issued a ruling in this case. The appeal overturned the judgment of the first instance court and referred the American's case for re-examination by the District Court in Warsaw, pointing to the “inappropriate staffing” of the court of first instance. It was about one of the judges who was allegedly improperly appointed.
He claims that his mother packed up and left
The case returned to the docket on Tuesday. Prosecutor Maciej Nowicki read the indictment again, in which he accused P. of killing his mother Gretchen on the night of March 31 to April 1, 2020, acting with direct intent. He also accused the defendant of misappropriating the victim's payment cards and hacking into her bank accounts.
When asked on Tuesday whether he admitted to these acts, the accused replied: – Absolutely not.
And he gave an almost 2.5-hour explanation to the court in which he pleaded not guilty. – How can you accuse me of murder when you can't prove death? – he asked. – I do not accept the credibility of the accusation. There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations. I withdrew all my testimony that I gave in 2021 to the FBI and the prosecutor's office after extradition, he explained to the court.
The accused only confirmed the explanations he gave to the Central Bureau of Investigation at the airport in Gdańsk. He recalled that he had indicated in them that he did not know what was happening to his mother. He admitted that there was a misunderstanding between them regarding the engagement and his personal life plans.
– Due to these misunderstandings, my mother packed up and left the apartment (in Żoliborz – ed.) that we rented. Since then, we have not maintained any contact, he maintained. According to his version of events, a few months after his mother's departure, he had a short conversation with his sister from the United States. – She misunderstood my statements due to a bad connection. The connection was of poor quality because my sister was driving outside the city. Due to this misunderstanding, M. filed a report with the FBI, he explained.
According to him, six months after returning to the US, he contacted his sister to confirm his mother's death and liquidate her estate. – The only way to do this was to confirm her murder. Today I do not confirm it. Personally, I think it was a conspiracy theory and the whole process was a fraud, he noted. According to him, “three and a half years of this case is a waste of time.”
– I refuse to accept that my mother is dead. At the same time, I refuse that your government claims that my mother is dead when there is no proof of this, he said.
“It's not theft because I had access to these cards”
P. also referred to the second accusation of stealing money. – I lived in Poland with my mother for about three and a half years. During this period, she gave me access to these cards. I was responsible for servicing her banks online and helped her make transfers. My mother sent me to stores to make purchases and that's why she gave me the PINs for these cards. It's not theft because I had access to these cards, he explained. He added that the mother never complained or reported any abuse in this regard.
The accused stated that there was no evidence of murder or theft. – Therefore, I demand immediate release from custody and for this case to be ended and the accusation dismissed – he said.
He recalled that the previous indictment stated that “he is too dangerous for Poland.” – Then why did you bring me here? I am a product of America, if you don't like this product, please return it. I submitted applications to the government and institutions for deportation from the European Union and for the removal of citizenship. I have no need to live here, he said, adding that he had not received an answer to his requests for three years. – I cannot live in a country with such a government – he added.
He demanded that the case be ended immediately. He recalled that the body had been searched for in Wisła for 18 months, but no remains had been found.
The FBI is looking for a body in Wisła Artur Węgrzynowicz, tvnwarszawa.pl
According to P., there are no direct witnesses to the crime. He admitted that there were misunderstandings between him and his mother, but at the time of her disappearance – in April 2020 – she “had a broken heart”, which is why she did not want to contact her friends. – Apparently no one knows where she is – he maintained and reminded that they were looking for her in Poland, while she – like him – has triple citizenship: Polish, American and Swiss. And her passport was still valid this year.
He also pointed out that his mother liked to travel and “her behavior may be strange because she is strange herself.” – I liked my mother, she is not my favorite person on this planet, but she is in the top ten closest people to me – he said.
The mystery of the disappearance of Gretchen P.
The findings of the investigation showed that in November 2016, Gretchen P. and her son moved to Żoliborz. On March 31, 2020, Gretchen's contact with her friends ended. There were posts on her social media accounts suggesting activity, but they differed in style from the previous ones. On April 4, 2020, an entry appeared on Facebook that the woman was supposed to be in the USA. By that time she was already dead.
As previously reported by the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, Karl P. killed his mother on the night of March 31 to April 1, 2020, by strangling her with a pillow. “Then he purchased tools – a hand saw, repair tape, painting foils and a metal fence. The suspect dismembered his mother's body in an apartment in Warsaw's Żoliborz district. Then he wrapped its parts in a fence. The suspect threw his mother's dismembered body off a bridge into the Vistula near Nowy Dwór. Mazowiecki,” the prosecutor's office said.
The FBI was looking for a body in Vistula Artur Węgrzynowicz, tvnwarszawa.pl
On May 21, 2021, P. was detained in the United States and placed at the disposal of Polish law enforcement authorities.
The trial started at the end of December. When asked by the court whether he admitted to committing the alleged act, the accused replied “relatively”. – If I receive an offer to negotiate a confession, I can confess – he said in court. He then noted “that he was responsible for his mother's disappearance” and that he “buried the body in the river.” “I made you dig this river for 20 months for nothing,” he mocked.
Main photo source: Katarzyna Kędra / tvnwarszawa.pl