Polish court orders retrial in Jerzy W.’s murder case after appeals court ruled the crime occurred between four walls at his home in Reszel.
The Tragedy in Reszel
The tragic events occurred in February 2021 in a single-family house in Reszel, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The W. couple were in their sixties. Grażyna W. had been retired for two years, while Jerzy W. was still working. They had three adult children.
For several years, Grażyna W. began drinking alcohol more frequently and fell into depression. She also had other health problems, including diabetes and asthma. The addiction led to the woman’s alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Jerzy W. encouraged his wife to seek therapy, especially since she behaved vulgarly and aggressively when drunk, destroying household appliances. Arguments also broke out.
Family Interventions
The “Blue Card” procedure, a protection mechanism against domestic violence, was implemented twice in the W. family. Jerzy W. called the police, hoping it would prompt his wife to live sober. While police interventions did produce results, they were short-lived. The woman would return to the bottle.
The Morning of the Murder
On February 16, 2021, Grażyna and Jerzy W. went shopping, then visited the man’s parents. During the visit with the in-laws, Grażyna W. appeared nervous. Jerzy W. repeatedly told her to calm down, but no argument occurred. In the afternoon, their son with his grandson also visited them. In the evening, Grażyna and Jerzy W. chopped onions together for Greek-style fish. They planned to sleep separately: Jerzy in a ground-floor room, Grażyna upstairs.
Jerzy W. got up early the next morning to light the furnace. He didn’t have time. Between 6 and 9 AM, he was brutally attacked in the garage: first struck multiple times in the head with a steel hammer, then stabbed with a knife in the neck, chest, and left lower ribs. The direct cause of death was stab wounds damaging the heart. Jerzy W. died within minutes.
Discovery of the Body
After 9 AM, Grażyna W.’s son called. He had previously tried to reach his father twice. The woman told her son that her husband was probably lighting the furnace. However, the man was not in the boiler room. According to the woman’s account, she went from the basement to the garage and found her husband’s body there. She called her son, but he didn’t answer, so she contacted her daughter. She said “father is unconscious.” Then she notified the emergency services.
“My husband is lying in the garage covered in blood… I’m scared, covered in blood in the garage, I saw it, I went to the basement,” she told the dispatcher. She noted that her husband did not respond to her calls. “I’m completely shaken,” she added.
Investigation Reveals Negligence
The woman was detained. She emphasized she had nothing to do with her husband’s death. After two days, the court agreed to pre-trial detention. It was determined there was a high probability that Grażyna W. was the perpetrator. However, the case proved more complicated.
While human blood was found under Grażyna W.’s fingernails, it could not be determined whose it was. No blood traces were found in the kitchen or bathroom sinks. However, the bathtub and shower were not examined under this aspect. No blood was found on the woman’s clothing. Technicians who conducted the on-site proceedings later admitted they did not remember if numerous tied bags, in which clothing was buried, were searched. Furthermore, it was only two days after the murder that the contents of outdoor trash cans was analyzed (without significant results).
On the hammer used to strike Jerzy W., there were dried brown traces. Analysis showed the presence of the deceased’s blood and partial fingerprint traces that did not belong to Grażyna W. or other family members. Traces indicating Grażyna W.’s involvement in the murder were also not found on the knife.
Questions About Third Parties
The most crucial question was whether Grażyna and Jerzy W. were alone in the house at the time of the murder. There were doubts on this matter, considering the large shoe print found on the basement stairs or Jerzy W.’s glove, in which DNA of an unknown person was identified.
Foreign DNA was also found on the blood on Grażyna W.’s slippers. It is known that Jerzy W. had cleared the stairs in front of the house in the morning and left the entrance door open (at night he locked it with an upper lock). A third person could have thus stealthily entered the house and murdered the man.
Investigators also found no specific motive. Marital problems, although lasting for years, did not clearly indicate such a motive. Jerzy W. also had no enemies among outsiders.
Court: Lack of Direct Evidence
In 2022, Grażyna W. stood before the court. “I do not admit to killing my husband and I don’t know how this could have happened… I last saw my husband at 8 PM, in the morning I found him dead on the garage floor, I did nothing to him. I swear to God,” she said, quoted by “Fakt.”
The verdict was handed down in May 2024: acquittal. “Even the most far-reaching probability, in the absence of however 100% certainty of evidence of committing the crime, must result in an acquittal,” emphasized the District Court in Olsztyn in its justification. It noted that “in the case there is a lack of direct evidence of the accused’s guilt, there is a clear motive that the accused would have had for killing her husband.”
“That the accused had time and opportunity to clean up, wash herself, get rid of clothing, is baseless speculation in the face of the state of evidence. The accused cannot be burdened with the undeniable negligence of law enforcement authorities. The police did not conduct detailed examinations of the scene of the incident, the area around it, did not search clothing in bags. On the scene, importantly, the murder weapons remained, i.e., the hammer and knife. If the accused had thoroughly been erasing traces of the crime incriminating her, she would most likely have also removed these tools,” the court enumerated.
Appeal and Retrial
Grażyna W. was released from detention shortly after the verdict (she spent a total of over three years there). However, the case did not end, as the prosecution filed an appeal.
In February of last year, the Białystok Court of Appeal overturned the first instance court’s verdict and referred the case back to the District Court in Olsztyn for reconsideration. “According to the appellate court, the drama… played out within four walls. Only the spouses participated, there were no third parties there,” said SA Judge Tomasz Uściłko, quoted by Radio Białystok based on reports by the Polish Press Agency. “By killing her husband, the accused gained freedom expressed in unlimited possibility of consuming alcohol,” assessed the judge.
According to Gazeta.pl portal, the first hearing before the District Court in Olsztyn was set for Monday, February 9.
