Sanok, Krosno, Kraków. Another arrest for a former policeman suspected of murdering a subordinate and a journalist

64-year-old Tadeusz P. has been in custody since November 24, 2022. Two days earlier, on November 22, he was detained by Krakow investigators in Zabrze (Silesian Voivodeship), where he had recently lived.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Krakow, which has been investigating the murder of Krzysztof Pyka and Marek Pomykała since December 2020, applied to the Court of Appeal in Krakow to extend the detention for Tadeusz P. – The detention was extended until March 17, 2024 – judge Tomasz Szymański told us, spokesman of the Court of Appeal in Kraków.

He added that the decision was not final and Tadeusz P. could appeal against it. He has seven days to do so.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków is still waiting for the results of expert opinions on the drugs and other substances with which Tadeusz P. – according to investigators’ findings – poisoned his wife. As prosecutor Tomasz Boduch, who is conducting the investigation into the case of Tadeusz P., told us at the beginning of October, this is the last document the prosecutor’s office is waiting for and unless there is a need to supplement the expert opinions with additional expertise, the investigation will be coming to an end. As Judge Szymański told us, investigators are also analyzing the transcripts of Tadeusz P.’s conversations.

In September, the prosecutor’s office received a forensic-psychiatric opinion from the examination of Tadeusz P., which showed that the man was sane and could be held accountable in court for the acts he was accused of.

Read also: Former policeman suspected of murdering a subordinate and a journalist. There is an opinion about sanity

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków charged Tadeusz P. with the murder of policeman Krzysztof Pyka, which allegedly took place on the night of December 12-13, 1985, and the murder of Marek Pomykała, a journalist from Sanok, who left his house in Sanok on the night of April 29-30, 1997. and no trace of him was lost.

Tadeusz P. was also charged with attempted murder of his wife, Ewa P. According to investigators, the man tried to poison the woman by “systematically adding significant doses of certain drugs to the drinks she drank” and by “putting mercury in her cigarettes.”

The fourth charge concerns the finding of just over 24 grams of “non-fibrous hemp herb” in Tadeusz P.’s apartment.

According to the Krakow district prosecutor’s office, Tadeusz P., when questioned as a suspect, did not admit to committing the acts he was accused of and provided explanations. The prosecutor’s office does not disclose their content.

Read also “Pride comes before a fall.” Former policeman suspected of two murders, in 1985 and 1997

According to Krakow investigators, on the night of December 12-13, 1985, in Polańczyk (Lesko County), Tadeusz P. pushed his subordinate, militiaman Krzysztof Pyka, off the boat mooring pier. He did it because he wanted to avoid criminal liability for driving under the influence of alcohol road accident in the town of Łączki (Lesko County), where Edward Krajnik died.

Krzysztof Pyka was allegedly a witness to the cover-up of the true circumstances of this accident. Father Tadeusz P. was then put in the driver’s seat and took the blame for causing the accident. The real perpetrator did not suffer any consequences, Krzysztof Pyka wanted to reveal the true circumstances of the accident, which is why – as investigators found – he was supposed to die.

The body of a young policeman was fished out of Lake Solina on February 3, 1986. The circumstances of his death were never explained.

Marek Pomykała went missing on the night of April 29-30. He left the house in Sanok and was lost. His car was found on April 30 in front of the gate to the dam in Solina. The car was locked, which the journalist was never supposed to do, and – according to the family – there was no fuel in the tank. The journalist’s body has not been found yet.

According to Krakow investigators, Tadeusz P. allegedly lured the journalist to his house in Wołkowyja (Lesko district), got him drunk and strangled him. He was supposed to do this because he was afraid that the journalist would find out about the crimes he had committed.

In 2012, Tadeusz P. allegedly told his lover, Wioletta Z, about the murder of a journalist and policeman. He also allegedly told his ex-wife, Ewa P., many times that he had killed Krzysztof Pyka.

We managed to reach former officers – a militiaman and a policeman, who confirmed that Marek Pomykała asked them about the accident in Łączki and the death of militiaman Krzysztof Pyka and about Tadeusz P. The former officer could have treated this as a motive to get rid of the journalist.

Read also “I was silent. We were all silent.” A former policeman and the mystery of three deaths in the Bieszczady Mountains

Ewa P. and Wioletta Z. were questioned in the investigation conducted in 2014-2015 into the murder of Pyka and Pomykała by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów. However, the prosecutor handling the case decided that there were too many inconsistencies in the women’s testimonies that needed to be resolved in favor of Tadeusz P. The investigation was discontinued, Tadeusz P. was not questioned even as a witness. The prosecutor also waived the search of his house in Wołkowyja, where – according to Wioletta Z.’s testimony – Tadeusz P. allegedly killed the journalist.

In 2020, after the circumstances of the death of Krzysztof Pyka and Marek Pomykała were publicized by journalists, the National Prosecutor’s Office decided to reopen the case and refer it to Krakow. The investigation was initiated in December 2020 and is still ongoing. The activities are carried out by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków and the Krakow department of the X-Files.

Tadeusz P. faces life imprisonment for his crimes.