Łódź Gay Murderer

The "Łódź Gay Murderer" is an unidentified Polish serial killer who operated in Łódź from 1988 to 1993. He murdered seven men, all of them homosexuals. This is the largest unexplained murder series in the history of Polish forensics.

Łódź Gay Murderer
Details
Victims	7
Span of crimes	1988–1993
Country	Poland
Date apprehended	Never captured

Circumstances of the crimes

From 1988 to 1993, a series of murders took place in Łódź. All victims were connected by the fact that they were homosexual people, died in their own flats and right after or during sexual intercourse. The perpetrator stole, among other things, TVs, videos, jewelry, cash and other items from the apartments of the murdered men. The victims died by strangling, stabbing or being beaten to death. The murders were not planned because the instruments of the crime were objects from the victims' flats.[1]

At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s in the larger cities, Polish homosexuals would cruise around looking for new social contacts.[2] In Łódź such places were located near the Łódź Fabryczna railway station, the Stanisław Moniuszko park located near the station and at the Henryk Dąbrowski Square. It was at these places, mainly at the train station, that in most cases the victims were seen for the last time. At that time, a young black-haired man of Korean heritage was seen in their company.

Victims

The victims of the serial killer and the circumstances around their deaths:[3]

1. Stefan W. (age 37) – murdered on June 19, 1988 - the corpse was found on June 27 in his apartment at Grabowa Street; the perpetrator tied up the victim with a wire, and then stabbed him with a knife that was found at the scene.
2. Jacek C. (age 40) – murdered on July 30, 1989 - the corpse was found on August 4 in his apartment at Ernst Thalmann Street (now at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński avenue); the perpetrator tied up the victim with a string and a trouser belt; the victim was suffocated with a cloth that had been pushed in his mouth.
3. Bogdan J. (age 50) – murdered on November 21, 1989 - the corpse was found two days later in his apartment at Łanowa Street, stabbed with a knife during sexual intercourse.
4. Andrzej S. (age 41) – murdered on February 25, 1990 - the corpse was found on March 5 in his apartment at Gładka Street, stabbed with a knife.
5. Jakub M. (age 41) – murdered on July 31, 1990 - the corpse was found on the same day in a forest near Głowno, strangled.
6. Jan D. (age 48) – murdered on February 20, 1992 - the corpse was found on the same day in his home on the Łagiewniki estate, beaten to death.
7. Kazimierz K. (age 62) – murdered on July 11, 1993 - the corpse was found the next day in his apartment at Konstytucyjna Street; the perpetrator trampled the victim and then strangled him.

Perpetrator

The investigation into the murders was difficult because the environment of homosexuals in Łódź was hermetic. Criminologists suspected that the perpetrator hated his sexual orientation or was hurt by a homosexual. The murderer was seen several times when he left the victims' apartments, and facial composites were created. The man was in his early twenties, possibly younger though unlikely, and had black hair, with a slim build and short stature.

After the last murder, committed in July 1993, an important witness appeared. He was a homosexual who had sex with a young man named Roman. The witness met with Roman the previous day, where they went to Kazimierz K.'s apartment. When all the guests left, the host and Roman stayed in the apartment. The following day, Kazimierz K. was found dead. The witness who brought Roman to the victim's home testified that he had told him a lot about himself. The young man said that he was raped by an educator from the reformatory when he was 15. He was supposedly working in the Eskimo cotton industry and lived with his mother in the area of Rzgowska Street. He was 27 years old, 1.78 m tall, with hazel eyes and dark blond hair combed to the side. He also had tattoos: a dot with a left eye, a laryngeal dot and letters on the fingers on the left hand.[4]

Despite obtaining the above data, the police did not find the murderer. Investigators suspect that he is dead. This is due to the fact that the witness who had contact with the mysterious Roman died of AIDS a few months later. It is possible that the murderer was also infected and died shortly afterwards, which could explain the sudden cessation of the murder series.

It is important to note that the Polish police found a body in the woodlands near Łódź, which matched the description of the man who had been last seen with the victims. His throat had been sliced open, and confirmed to have died of blood loss by doctors, though the police were unable to identify him. It has been suggested that the man had been an immigrant and therefore had no record of himself in Poland, though who or what killed him is unknown. Police have theorized it might have been suicide, though why the man would commit suicide in the woods and why he had chosen his throat would suggest that this theory is wrong. It is likely that he had been attacked by a criminal.

Aftermath

In 2007, policemen from the Łódź Archives took interest in the murder series.[5]

References

1. ""It happened in Łódź": Murdered gays on Fabryczny" (in Polish). Wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
2. "Sex chat and slang gay code. The secret language of the industry" (in Polish). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
3. "Seria zabójstw wstrząsnęła Polską. Homo-killer wciąż na wolności" (in Polish). Nasygnale.pl. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
4. "Case from the "X-Files" - a picket killer" (in Polish). Onet.pl. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
5. "Łódź archive X. Police officers return to unexplained crimes" (in Polish). Dziennik Łódzki. Retrieved 15 January 2016.