Tragedy behind closed doors - new findings

On the night of Monday to Tuesday, August 11-12, a tragedy occurred in Żmigród. According to the information we received, a woman had killed her husband. The news spread quickly and shocked the town's residents. What really happened, and what have the police and prosecutors confirmed?

We heard that it happened at night or in the early morning, and that a woman and a man were led out of the apartment in handcuffs. However, our source didn't know whether the woman had killed the man she was now living with, or her ex-partner, who had supposedly returned to her. We began investigating this information. Deputy Commissioner Daria Szydłowska from the District Police Headquarters in Trzebnica only confirmed that a tragic incident had occurred.

" A criminal incident occurred overnight. Officers on site, under the supervision of the prosecutor, conducted an investigation to determine and clarify the circumstances. Due to the nature of the incident, the prosecutor's investigation has been initiated," the officer told us.

When we asked for details, she stated that because the prosecutor's office was conducting an investigation, she couldn't provide more information. So we called the District Prosecutor's Office in Trzebnica. They told us they only provide information via email. We sent them an email.

On Tuesday, we went to Żmigród to talk to residents and neighbors of the people whose apartment was affected by the tragedy. While we were near their building, we approached a man mowing the lawn and asked if he had heard about it.

"I've heard of it, but honestly, I didn't know either of them. I don't even know who they are," he told us.

A few dozen meters away we met a woman walking her dog and struck up a conversation with her:

"From what I understand, the owner of the apartment is in prison. There was a couple there. A woman and a man were renting the apartment. Various people were passing through there. People say the person who was killed was her partner or husband," the woman replied, adding that it was probably around 2 a.m.

A woman passing by told us more. The beginning of her statement was shocking:

" There's a ten-year-old boy there. He probably saw it."

We learned from a neighbor of the woman who was the subject of the so-far unconfirmed murder that she brought her son home on weekends. So, perhaps he didn't witness the tragedy.

Our interlocutor confirmed the information we had heard earlier, that the woman and her partner rented an apartment in this building. She claimed the family was dysfunctional and that there were supposedly drugs there.

" I don't know what to believe and what's nonsense, because people say different things. One that she killed her partner with a new lover, another that she killed her new lover with an old one. And I also heard they killed someone completely random. Apparently, there was some kind of all-night party there, and it was so much fun that the police and prosecutor joined in the morning, " said the man who joined the conversation.

“ What murder? ” replied the woman, who was sitting on a bench in front of the building . “ I didn’t hear anything.”

We approached the staircase where the tragedy was said to have occurred in one of the apartments. We called one of the residents through the intercom. We heard a brief "Come in" from the man and asked if he knew anything about the tragedy that had occurred during the night. We heard only silence, indicating that the man had hung up. We tried a different number. This time, the resident opened the staircase door but didn't answer either. We went inside and called one of the apartments. A man answered the door.

" At night, I heard a scream and the sound of doors closing twice . Later, the police and ambulance arrived. It wasn't until the morning that I learned there had been a fatal accident ," he told us.

" I don't know anything because I didn't hear anything. I was asleep. I got up before 10. When I left the house , people asked me what happened . I said I don't know. You have to go to someone higher up ," the neighbor said.

We asked her what she knew about the people who were in the apartment where the authorities found the victim. She said that a woman and a man lived there, and there was another man there. She couldn't precisely describe their relationship or who she considered the man who had died . As suggested, we went upstairs.

In the first apartment, a man answered the door. However, he didn't know anything. He also claimed to have slept through the night. We knocked on the door of a neighbor, who told us there was heavy drinking and frequent parties.

" I don't know anything. I just saw the ambulance arrive. One man was new, and the other was someone from a previous relationship who came back to her." – said another resident of the building where the tragedy occurred.

We decided to ask around town and went to the market square. There, we struck up a conversation with a saleswoman in one of the shops.

"When I came to work, I overheard a woman talking about a guy being stabbed to death by his girlfriend. After that, none of the customers said anything about it. It was the first time something like this had happened in Żmigród, where someone had been killed ," she told us.

Conversations with neighbors and residents around town didn't yield a clear answer as to what exactly happened, who killed the woman, if a murder actually occurred. We expected to learn more from the prosecutor's office. However, a response to our email inquiry was not forthcoming. So we called the prosecutor's office. There, we learned they were experiencing a power outage and didn't have internet access. They didn't read our message. The secretary connected us with District Prosecutor Sebastian Chudaszek. He stated that they weren't providing precise information at this time, as they were still verifying whether third parties were involved. Therefore, it's not yet known whether the knife was used in the murder, whether the death was unintentional, or whether it was a suicide. The prosecutor's office has several hypotheses regarding the course of events, which need to be verified. What is certain is that the woman has been pronounced dead. The prosecutor also confirmed that the death occurred at 2:00 AM. We asked him if there was a child in the apartment at the time of the tragic incident. The prosecutor's office replied that he wouldn't comment on such matters because he didn't have any information on the matter. We also learned that no charges had been filed yet, and that no proceedings were underway against anyone. We also asked how many people had been detained. It turns out there were three: one woman and two men, but no charges had been filed against any of them at this time.

We will continue to monitor the progress of this case. As we receive further information, we will publish it on our website and in Nowa Gazeta Trzebnicka.