Victoria (Vicky) Owczynsky

[lisag]

I grew up in Minneapolis and I remember hearing about Vicky. I thought at the time, they thought she had been killed and that they had a suspect, but I can't find any information about her besides what is listed on the Doe Network.


http://doenetwork.us/cases/1434dfmn.html

[Richard]

Your best and quickest source of information on this case would be to check Minneapolis/St Paul newspaper microfilm files. Most On-line stories only go back a few years, but there might have been a 10th anniversary story that you could find by going to newspaper on-line archives.
If you do some research and write up a case summary, you can send it to the DoeNetwork and they will put it on their website file.

[lisag]

I searched archives- and this is all there is...

Published: November 6, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page#: 01B
Minneapolis case of missing woman frustrates police
By Jill Hodges; Staff Writer

Minneapolis police have grim suspicions about what happened to 17-year-old Vicky Owczynsky when she disappeared more than a year ago, but they can't say for sure.




All that is certain is that she never showed up at a park at Garfield St. and 18th Av. NE. where she had agreed to meet her girlfriend at noon on Aug. 26, 1990.


Since her disappearance, there has been no sign that she's still alive - no sightings, no phone calls to friends or family, no applications bearing her Social Security number. There also has been no evidence to prove she's not. Nonetheless, police are suspicious.


"She left behind her clothing, she left behind the small amount of money she had. She left behind her cigarettes and jewelry. She never said anything about leaving. She agreed to meet her friend at the park. All those things put together - that's not somebody who elected to be gone," said Sgt. John Baade, one of the investigators in the case.


"We treat it as a missing-persons case, but basically what we're talking about is a potential homicide."


They even have a suspect, but without a body, no crime. The uncertainty has prolonged her family's agony.


"I feel like I'm in limbo," said her father, Eugene Owczynsky. "It eats away at me. No matter where I go, I still keep my eyes open, thinking maybe I'll see her."


Vicky had been living with a girlfriend in northeast Minneapolis when she disappeared. She had moved to the house, four blocks from her mother's, about a month earlier.


When she woke up on Aug. 26, other members of the bustling household were filing out to church. At 9:45, Vicky called her mother and said she'd stop by about noon.


About 15 minutes later, she had a three-way phone conversation with her boyfriend, who was in the Ramsey County jail, and a girlfriend, who she agreed to meet at the park at noon. She said she had just stepped out of the bath and needed to dress and fix her hair.


While she was still talking to her girlfriend, Vicky abruptly began laughing. She explained that a man had just walked in with two black eyes and he looked funny. It was the father of the family she was living with, who had been ordered out of the house by Hennepin County two years earlier after being accused of sexually assaulting his daughters.


Vicky then called her stepfather and asked for a ride to the park, but he said he was busy painting a neighbor's house. He heard her ask someone in the house for a ride.


About 10:30 a.m., two neighbors saw Vicky leave in a pickup truck with the man who had appeared at the house during the phone conversation. About 20 minutes later, the man returned to the house, they said, and began unloading scrap metal from the truck. Vicky never arrived at the park or her mother's.


The next day, police took a report from her mother, Larene Larson. Larson and Eugene Owczynsky told police that their daughter would not leave without calling them later. Family members and friends said Vicky, a student at Edison High, seemed relatively happy. Family members peppered the neighborhood with fliers carrying a picture and description of Vicky, a petite, pretty girl with long brown hair. No one called with any clues.


The case was referred to Sgt. Dayton Dunn of the Minneapolis Police Department's juvenile division. He interviewed neighbors, family members and friends. He spoke with the man who neighbors say Vicky left with and ordered a search of his truck and apartment in a building he manages. The man acknowledged that he had seen Vicky and that they had talked outside, but says she never was in his pickup.


After that, the case remained open as an unsolved missing-person report. Every month or so, Dunn would make the rounds, checking for developments. None surfaced.


When Vicky's 18th birthday passed in April, the case was turned over to Baade and Sgt. Ron Ottoson in the Second Precinct's property crimes unit, which handles reports of missing adults. "In talking with Sgt. Dunn we came up with the same conclusion he did: that we've probably got a victim of a homicide and there's one suspect we can't eliminate," Baade said.


The primary suspect, the man who was last seen with Vicky, was convicted of assaulting a 27-year-old woman in the course of a sexual encounter in 1977. But in searching his pickup and apartment, Baade and Ottoson found scant evidence to prove what they believe - only a photograph of Vicky's boyfriend and a necklace. They also took samples of duct tape and nylon tape.


The investigators said the case illustrates perils in the Police Department's system for dealing with missing people. For one thing, they said, with the exception of cases that appear particularly unusual or urgent, a 24-hour wait is required before anyone can file a report.


"If you report your TV is missing, we take the report right away," Baade said. "Why wait on a missing person? Why not take the report right away? Then if something's wrong, at least you've got a start." In cases that involve foul play, the delay can leave investigators with no crime scene and witnesses with fading memories, he said.


Most missing-person calls to police result in a cursory round of phone calls and a report for the files. Only those that appear suspicious are investigated extensively at the outset. In the Owczynsky case, Dunn suspected trouble and pursued the case aggressively. Even so, Baade said, he wishes more police resources had been devoted to the case sooner.


Deputy Chief David Dobrotka said it is a question of where to invest officers' time, an increasingly precious resource. Ninety to 95 percent of the 336 reports of missing adults in Minneapolis this year proved unfounded. The juvenile division receives about 275 reports of missing children a month. Only eight of the children reported missing since January 1990 are still considered missing, and none is believed a victim of foul play, officials said.


"Just how much time and energy are you going to expend on things like this?" Dobrotka said, citing the continued rise of violent crimes.


Baade recognizes the pressures, but said he thinks missing-person investigations are worth the time. "What about those one or two times that should have been looked into right away?" he said. "Maybe they'll come home. Maybe they won't. Which way do you want to err?"

[Trino]

Did the article say he was a scrap dealer? Didn't they look for her prints in his truck?

[Richard]

What's wrong with this picture?

(quote) > her boyfriend, who was in the Ramsey County jail...

> the father of the family she was living with, who had been ordered out of the house by Hennepin County two years earlier after being accused of sexually assaulting his daughters.

> About 10:30 a.m., two neighbors saw Vicky leave in a pickup truck with the man who had appeared at the house during the phone conversation. About 20 minutes later, the man returned to the house, they said, and began unloading scrap metal from the truck. Vicky never arrived at the park or her mother's.

>The man acknowledged that he had seen Vicky and that they had talked outside, but says she never was in his pickup.

>The primary suspect, the man who was last seen with Vicky, was convicted of assaulting a 27-year-old woman in the course of a sexual encounter in 1977. But in searching his pickup and apartment, Baade and Ottoson found scant evidence to prove what they believe - only a photograph of Vicky's boyfriend and a necklace. They also took samples of duct tape and nylon tape.

[lisag]

I agree - many things are wrong with this picture.
17 and not living at home.
Boyfriend in jail...
The suspect and his story,previous charges..etc....
It seems to me that someone dropped the ball.. There was SOME evidence of her being in his truck... He was only gone for 20 minutes ?? Doesn't that indicate that she would have been dumped nearby.
It seems that this case could be solved. There is a very good suspect and he is OBVIOUSLY lying... The police need to do some follow up work on this case.