Poland Mateusz Kawecki, 30 went missing in on the way to the hospital to meet his wife in labor, found 5 months later in family barn March 2018

[beubeubeu]

....and I think someone made him disappear too.

Why go to such lengths to hide a car?
It's very odd.

And his foot not being found in the upstairs room of the barn by police, the family finding it several days later.

What else was in the barn's upstairs room that the police couldn't see a foot in a shoe? I'm sure it wasn't covered in items, and if it was, the police still should have searched every item in there!

To be realistic, we don't know if anyone was really trying to hide it or if it wasn't searched for properly.
IF that car crossed the border, then it should be realatively easy to find out, BUT if it got somehow missed by the brief check in the beginning, then... judging by their actions, they'd keep that in mind but never admit it publicly to not look bad.
According to LE's findings thou, it seems like there is no reason to search for this car anywhere in Poland. It most likely "disappeared" somewherein Germany.

I can imagine very good reason to hide his car thou.
No car, no Mateusz = pretty reasonable assumption that he still has it, or that car is still "with" him. Also great, wonderful hint, pointing at the possibility of him being basically wherever in Poland, in Germany, cause he could theoretically go anywhere (as long as anyone would consider before his body was found).
If that car was located, anywhere, then search and investigation would get focused much more there - so if in Germany (on Mateusz's connections in Germany), if in Poland (on his friends/family/coworker/acquaintances connections in Poland)... and so on.
Generally: no car meant thousands possibilities as to what could happen and where he could be - with car located somewhere number of possibilties would narrow dow significantly.

What else was in the barn's upstairs?
Hay. Lot's of hay. And some more hay.
Lower some stored wood, but where he was just hay (they were showing exact location in the video).
But these cops just weren't interested in looking. IMO big chance that someone put that responsibility on some random cops with no knowledge of how to treat possible crime scene, guys who never saw such heavily decomposed body and they even allegedly said to the family who questioned their brief visit and lack of searching the scene - that they can do it themselves cause they have no time or means to search whole barn for possible evidence. AND they took his body out of his clothes, leaving clothes in trash bags, next to the barn.

That shoe probably just got covered by bit of hay and none of them bothered to make even the lousiest checkup on the immediate area.
It's also possible that they haven't collected all his teeth.

 

[Marie A]

His companion at the hotel could be just a random person heading home for Easter holidays.
It's pretty common solution since single rooms are almost always either not available at all or cost same as room for two people.
Much more likely that it was someone known to Mateusz, coworker or acquaintance from Hannover, but could as well be a complete random who also found himself in a need of a room and few hours of sleep. It was right before Easter, so at the time where most modest and affordable motels, hostels and hotels would be close to full.

All IMHO
I agree completely. My thought is a complete stranger sharing room to be cost effective. No issues with this sharing.

If he had that BMW in his name he must have sold it or had it stolen. Possibly a car accident/ damaged beyond repair or needed costly maintenance he couldn’t afford.
Simply by the fact HE LIED to family about being stuck in traffic I think he was embarrassed about losing the car- however he lost it, this lie to me shows he was ashamed of losing his beloved car (he would have been VERY proud of that car at one time) or that he was in a psychotic state and not functioning properly or otherwise mentally ill.
ashamed/ embarrassed or psychotic /otherwise mentally ill

Also taking trains and walking - my gut says mental illness came into play here somewhere- whether depression or paranoia set in - this reminds me very much of a young man I knew who went home after being away & using drugs while away only to commit suicide a short time after returning to his roots. My young friend was indeed paranoid/ psychotic and carried out a well planned suicide.
I would be curious about any family history of mental illness, any medications he was taking, any history of illicit drug use.
The mentally ill will come home to familiarity to end it.

This is a very sad story and I think it is too great of a tragedy for the family to face the reality (in a sometimes devoutly Roman Catholic country where suicide is a sin against God and man) that their beloved son/ brother committed suicide.
Also especially gut wrenching and inexplicable to his family that he was SO close to home and didn’t make contact with his family.
I see nothing to indicate foul play here. Just a very, very sad story & a little displaced blame on investigators. Grasping at straws a bit.
Prayers for his loved ones.

 

[beubeubeu]

Very confusing case. Boy, do I 'feel' for his family getting so little support and investigation.

However, he was working in Germany for 5 years.... that is a considerable lenghth of time. Where are some voices about Mateusz from Germany. We have ONLY heard from family, so far.

Hopefully, investigations will get more answers. But, omg, how much is lost.

Sadly no shortage of cases like that in countries where many people were going to work abroad with next to no public exposure. Chances that we will hear more are slim to none.

 

[fridaybaker]

I lean toward suicide here but have questions around how one article described the teeth stuck to the clothing in blood. It sounds like a long- drop hanging can be very violent, with the head separating from the body, but would it also knock out teeth? Because if the teeth were stuck in blood, the two events would have to have happened close together in time -while the blood was wet. For the teeth to have been knocked out by the hanging, I’d think the gums would have to be very seriously diseased.

Also, I find the whole living situation odd. What we’re his plans regarding living six hours away from his fiancé and now child? We haven’t heard anything about this. Because there were no plans? That certainly leads me toward the suicide possibility.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I don't know that I've ever known anyone who would agree to share a room with a total stranger.
I would have thought that it was the same anywhere.
Except under unusual circumstances, like in a disaster or something like that.

I disagree that the other person was a stranger. I think that Mateusz knew them.
I'm thinking that this person has their own reasons for not coming forward and it might not be that they had anything to do with what happened.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

Could he have been a drig user? That could explain teeth and possible strange, unusual behavior. Otherwise, is it possible the car stayed in germany, he sold it or otherwise?

Strange case, so sad for his family.

If the car was just left/sold I would assume it would have been found at some point, I’ve also not heard anything about him being into drugs from the family so I’m not sure about that one but usually a man living outside Poland trying to provide for their family is doing so bc they’re a hard worker and Poland’s wages are below that of some surrounding countries so I think that points to him making an honest attempt at least to support his family, it’s possible the financial part was hard and with a new baby coming maybe the added stress led to other behavior it would be purely speculative.

 

[evilwise]

I'm having a hard time getting the actual video of the inside of the barn to play for me but it seems likely that he climbed up into the rafters and hopped off, with the noose tied below him, in which case its possible that his body swung like a pendulum and slammed into one of the posts. These kind of cases with woefully inadequate scene documentation make it really hard to even speculate.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

All IMHO
I agree completely. My thought is a complete stranger sharing room to be cost effective. No issues with this sharing.

If he had that BMW in his name he must have sold it or had it stolen. Possibly a car accident/ damaged beyond repair or needed costly maintenance he couldn’t afford.
Simply by the fact HE LIED to family about being stuck in traffic I think he was embarrassed about losing the car- however he lost it, this lie to me shows he was ashamed of losing his beloved car (he would have been VERY proud of that car at one time) or that he was in a psychotic state and not functioning properly or otherwise mentally ill.
ashamed/ embarrassed or psychotic /otherwise mentally ill

Also taking trains and walking - my gut says mental illness came into play here somewhere- whether depression or paranoia set in - this reminds me very much of a young man I knew who went home after being away & using drugs while away only to commit suicide a short time after returning to his roots. My young friend was indeed paranoid/ psychotic and carried out a well planned suicide.
I would be curious about any family history of mental illness, any medications he was taking, any history of illicit drug use.
The mentally ill will come home to familiarity to end it.

This is a very sad story and I think it is too great of a tragedy for the family to face the reality (in a sometimes devoutly Roman Catholic country where suicide is a sin against God and man) that their beloved son/ brother committed suicide.
Also especially gut wrenching and inexplicable to his family that he was SO close to home and didn’t make contact with his family.
I see nothing to indicate foul play here. Just a very, very sad story & a little displaced blame on investigators. Grasping at straws a bit.
Prayers for his loved ones.

I’m not sure the blame is displaced on investigators, I know that if it my loved one whose investigation was so badly botched and I wasn’t agreeing with the results at all I definitely wouldn’t consider it displaced. So just because it’s a stranger doesn’t change the fact that his death deserved a better investigation. MOO

 

[beubeubeu]

Simply by the fact HE LIED to family about being stuck in traffic

How is that a fact? Cause some cop with unknown-if-any-knowledge about this case said so?

It's a fact that Mateusz was calling people and sending texts.
It's a fact that in order to do that, mobile phone has to connect to cellular tower.
It's a fact that LE can get access to this data.
It's a fact that Germany and Poland are in European Union, there is no border. It's not hard to exchange information.
And on top of that it's a fact that in Germany licence plates scanners are placed all around higways and many other roads. With no doubt they would be able to tell exactly when and where that car was seen.

They're relying that accusation of lying on the alleged facts that he hasn't crossed the border near Szczecin and that his car hasn't logged in Poland. But Szczecin is basically on the border, he could made that call, stuck in traffic surrounding that city (but still in Germany) and "passed it" not by leaving it behind while heading straight to fiancee, but trying to use different road.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

How is that a fact? Cause some cop with unknown-if-any-knowledge about this case said so?

It's a fact that Mateusz was calling people and sending texts.
It's a fact that in order to do that, mobile phone has to connect to cellular tower.
It's a fact that LE can get access to this data.
It's a fact that Germany and Poland are in European Union, there is no border. It's not hard to exchange information.
And on top of that it's a fact that in Germany licence plates scanners are placed all around higways and many other roads. With no doubt they would be able to tell exactly when and where that car was seen.

They're relying that accusation of lying on the alleged facts that he hasn't crossed the border near Szczecin and that his car hasn't logged in Poland. But Szczecin is basically on the border, he could made that call, stuck in traffic surrounding that city (but still in Germany) and "passed it" not by leaving it behind while heading straight to fiancee, but trying to use different road.

The other thing I noticed which I don’t have any knowledge on, hopefully someone here can elaborate but the reasoning the cops used that his SIM card couldn’t be traced, because it was a German SIM card in Poland…Germany said they couldn’t trace it since it was in Poland and Poland said they couldn’t trace it because it was a German SIM card…does anybody know how that works or if/why that would be the case??

 

[beubeubeu]

The other thing I noticed which I don’t have any knowledge on, hopefully someone here can elaborate but the reasoning the cops used that his SIM card couldn’t be traced, because it was a German SIM card in Poland…Germany said they couldn’t trace it since it was in Poland and Poland said they couldn’t trace it because it was a German SIM card…does anybody know how that works or if/why that would be the case??

Sim cards can be traced no matter what county they came from and travelled through if they are in use.
Access to that data is restricted, cause different countries -> meaning that one side would have to ask the other for it, and they wouldn't get it without other side's approval.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

Sim cards can be traced no matter what county they came from and travelled through if they are in use.
Access to that data is restricted, cause different countries -> meaning that one side would have to ask the other for it, and they wouldn't get it without other side's approval.

So all Germany and Poland had to do was get approval from each other and share the information, infuriating!!!!

 

[beubeubeu]

I don't know that I've ever known anyone who would agree to share a room with a total stranger.
I would have thought that it was the same anywhere.
Except under unusual circumstances, like in a disaster or something like that.

I disagree that the other person was a stranger. I think that Mateusz knew them.
I'm thinking that this person has their own reasons for not coming forward and it might not be that they had anything to do with what happened.

But Europe is full of hostels and hotels that are offering hostel-like rooms, where you go and pay for a bed in what's called community rooms. It's the cheapest option and then you're sharing a room with bunch (3, 5, 7 or even more) complete strangers. You just sleep and go on with your journey, hoping to not meet a complete creep there.

For majority of people going to work abroad in factories and doing manual jobs - sharing rooms with complete strangers (sometimes people who came from random countries and can't even talk with each other cause they don't speak same language) is not only expected but required. And they sometimes live like that for months, years even while new roomates are coming and going.

Likelyness of that depends much on circumstances and Mateusz's prefferences.
He could be a person with experiences like that, and see no issue in doing so - IF hotels around were expensive and packed. Or he could be known to be very reluctant do to so.
We don't know.

And if that person was random or had nothing to do with Mateusz's death then the most likely reason for them to not "come forward" is that there is absolutely no reason to expect that they were aware that anyone was ever interested.
Those shows that covered Mateusz's case are not that popular... family was asking about him and distributing flyers, but around Szczecin, not Słubice. So they could be just simply unaware.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

But Europe is full of hostels and hotels that are offering hostel-like rooms, where you go and pay for a bed in what's called community rooms. It's the cheapest option and then you're sharing a room with bunch (3, 5, 7 or even more) complete strangers. You just sleep and go on with your journey, hoping to not meet a complete creep there.

For majority of people going to work abroad in factories and doing manual jobs - sharing rooms with complete strangers (sometimes people who came from random countries and can't even talk with each other cause they don't speak same language) is not only expected but required. And they sometimes live like that for months, years even while new roomates are coming and going.

Likelyness of that depends much on circumstances and Mateusz's prefferences.
He could be a person with experiences like that, and see no issue in doing so - IF hotels around were expensive and packed. Or he could be known to be very reluctant do to so.
We don't know.

And if that person was random or had nothing to do with Mateusz's death then the most likely reason for them to not "come forward" is that there is absolutely no reason to expect that they were aware that anyone was ever interested.
Those shows that covered Mateusz's case are not that popular... family was asking about him and distributing flyers, but around Szczecin, not Słubice. So they could be just simply unaware.

Yes that’s valid I’ve stayed in many hostels there myself

 

[beubeubeu]

So all Germany and Poland had to do was get approval from each other and share the information, infuriating!!!!

Can you imagine it being true - that LE in Poland/Germany is completely unable to track SIM cards purchased in Poland/Germany as soon as user passes the "border" (within Schoengen!) and the other country's - so German/Polish LE is also unable to track foreign SIM cards cause they're foreign?

That would mean that all organised crime, terrorists, kidnappers, human traffickers, pretty much ALL criminals are completely untraceable the moment they cross the border of other country within EU... this would be completely ridiculous, and huge threat to national security of multiple countries.

 

[beubeubeu]

My first thought was murder made to look like suicide. If it was then it would seem that the choice of the location - at his parents place - was either an elaborate attempt to make it seem genuine suicide, or an indicator of a lot of hatred towards MK and/or his family.

I wouldn't bet on any elaborate attempts. And I wouldn't expect family to publicly say what is the second and third most likely scenarios cause they still have to go through their lives somehow. Mysterious, cruel assassins planting his deceased body there is, what I'd say - a theory safe to share, socially: possible, but crazy unlikely.

What's unknown could add or take the likelyness from any scenario.
Something definitely happened and caused him to change his plans completely.
But even if it was something close to "the last straw" which leads a person to commit suicide, there is still more than one possibility.

It's possible that he was seeking safety and that led him to his family house, near which he commited suicide.

Also possible that he was in deep emotional distress, not ready to talk to anyone yet - anyone but his travelling companion, who was local to his native village. They arrived there late at night, home was closed, Mateusz didn't wanted to wake anyone up, it was cold, so they hided in barn, talked a bit, then the other person left, Mateusz stayed, felt even worse and decided to commit suicide (and the other person never came forward cause either assummed that Mateusz left home and went somewhere else or saw his body where they were and ran away scared of being accussed of leaving him alone, not helping or murdering him).

Also not impossible that mostly same scenario, but while they stayed in barn some fight happened, or the other person attacked Mateusz, hit him too hard, realised that he's dead (or suspected it), hanged him staging suicide and fled hoping that nobody will notice.

It's not like it was just in the barn, on the very top of it, second-floor level, not visible from the entrance, not visible even from inside of the barn.

General overview of the property, barn in question isn't the building in the middle thou:



Entrance to the barn:



Going in:



Climbing to first-floor level:



This is where Mateusz's father surely was at least once while Mateusz was allegedly hanging/lying there:



What's visible from there:



Closer look at the corner:



Mateusz's sister points out where loops were hanging:



Where the body fell:



All pictures provided are screenshots from:

https://panstwowpanstwie.polsatnews...-roku-cialo-znaleziono-tuz-obok-domu_1692769/

Other things learned from that coverage:

Dentist was questioned about the likelyness of tooth falling out of the skull: allegedly said NO WAY, absolutely no way considering that there was hay everywhere in sight.

Expert criminologist and retired police inspector said that considering weather circumstances of that year it seems completely possible for the body to end up not discovered for so long (cause very dry weather).
Same criminologist also was shocked and outraged by the neglect and mistakes done by investigators who should know better.

Plenty of ropes in the barn, yet he was hanging on some black rope of unknown source.

CORRECTION: Mateusz's clothes weren't left at the scene but immediately returned to family in these trash bags. It's the sister who take care of it and prevented it from being trashed, initially no testing was done, despite of possible presence of blood on those.

Reporter invited to the studio was in Hutków 1,5 month (in May) after Mateusz's disappearance with all his crew (while covering his missing case) and confirmed that none of them smelled anything odd despite of standing inches from the gates.

Neighbours started reporting some awful smell later.

Mateusz was texting with his fiancee and family a lot - till that last text in which he promised to show up in about 2 hours.

HIS PHONE WAS STILL ON FEW DAYS AFTER HE WENT MISSING.

His case was classified as second class missing person's case - which means that he was added to databases, nothing much since it's deemed that there is no serious danger to the missing person (no known illnesses, no old/young age, no suspected kidnapping)
Retired police inspector judged it as understandable approach in first few days, but added that after about a week they should apply for access to his phone records and log's history, as well as reclassifying it as first class missing person's case (those actually involve some active search action on the side of LE).

Family got access to his facebook account, saw that he got message from cops in Zamość, urging him to notify family about his whereabouts. As for late November 2018 family had no knowledge of any searching actions done by LE except for that message and looking into neighbour's raspberry bushes and asking her if she saw Mateusz's car. Family tried to urge them, then beg for to the very least, checking nearby bodies of water by drone - to which they got response that Zamość doesn't own any drone and they don't have any money for such search.

It is unknown that any actual search was done by the Polish LE since multiple areas of their actions ended up investigated by supervising agencies and deemed to not be a matter of public knowledge.

The claim that Mateusz lied to his family and that his car never entered Poland and never went into Szczecin area was based on checkup that was done on only two border crossings in Szczecin area: Kołbaskowo i Lubieszyn.
Nearby border crossings in Warnik and Gryfino were not checked.

 

[Lwieckowicz]

Th

I wouldn't bet on any elaborate attempts. And I wouldn't expect family to publicly say what is the second and third most likely scenarios cause they still have to go through their lives somehow. Mysterious, cruel assassins planting his deceased body there is, what I'd say - a theory safe to share, socially: possible, but crazy unlikely.

What's unknown could add or take the likelyness from any scenario.
Something definitely happened and caused him to change his plans completely.
But even if it was something close to "the last straw" which leads a person to commit suicide, there is still more than one possibility.

It's possible that he was seeking safety and that led him to his family house, near which he commited suicide.

Also possible that he was in deep emotional distress, not ready to talk to anyone yet - anyone but his travelling companion, who was local to his native village. They arrived there late at night, home was closed, Mateusz didn't wanted to wake anyone up, it was cold, so they hided in barn, talked a bit, then the other person left, Mateusz stayed, felt even worse and decided to commit suicide (and the other person never came forward cause either assummed that Mateusz left home and went somewhere else or saw his body where they were and ran away scared of being accussed of leaving him alone, not helping or murdering him).

Also not impossible that mostly same scenario, but while they stayed in barn some fight happened, or the other person attacked Mateusz, hit him too hard, realised that he's dead (or suspected it), hanged him staging suicide and fled hoping that nobody will notice.

It's not like it was just in the barn, on the very top of it, second-floor level, not visible from the entrance, not visible even from inside of the barn.

General overview of the property, barn in question isn't the building in the middle thou:

View attachment 405326

Entrance to the barn:

View attachment 405328

Going in:

View attachment 405325

Climbing to first-floor level:

View attachment 405330

This is where Mateusz's father surely was at least once while Mateusz was allegedly hanging/lying there:

View attachment 405331

What's visible from there:

View attachment 405329

Closer look at the corner:

View attachment 405324

Mateusz's sister points out where loops were hanging:

View attachment 405333

Where the body fell:

View attachment 405327

All pictures provided are screenshots from:

https://panstwowpanstwie.polsatnews...-roku-cialo-znaleziono-tuz-obok-domu_1692769/

Other things learned from that coverage:

Dentist was questioned about the likelyness of tooth falling out of the skull: allegedly said NO WAY, absolutely no way considering that there was hay everywhere in sight.

Expert criminologist and retired police inspector said that considering weather circumstances of that year it seems completely possible for the body to end up not discovered for so long (cause very dry weather).
Same criminologist also was shocked and outraged by the neglect and mistakes done by investigators who should know better.

Plenty of ropes in the barn, yet he was hanging on some black rope of unknown source.

CORRECTION: Mateusz's clothes weren't left at the scene but immediately returned to family in these trash bags. It's the sister who take care of it and prevented it from being trashed, initially no testing was done, despite of possible presence of blood on those.

Reporter invited to the studio was in Hutków 1,5 month (in May) after Mateusz's disappearance with all his crew (while covering his missing case) and confirmed that none of them smelled anything odd despite of standing inches from the gates.

Neighbours started reporting some awful smell later.

Mateusz was texting with his fiancee and family a lot - till that last text in which he promised to show up in about 2 hours.

HIS PHONE WAS STILL ON FEW DAYS AFTER HE WENT MISSING.

His case was classified as second class missing person's case - which means that he was added to databases, nothing much since it's deemed that there is no serious danger to the missing person (no known illnesses, no old/young age, no suspected kidnapping)
Retired police inspector judged it as understandable approach in first few days, but added that after about a week they should apply for access to his phone records and log's history, as well as reclassifying it as first class missing person's case (those actually involve some active search action on the side of LE).

Family got access to his facebook account, saw that he got message from cops in Zamość, urging him to notify family about his whereabouts. As for late November 2018 family had no knowledge of any searching actions done by LE except for that message and looking into neighbour's raspberry bushes and asking her if she saw Mateusz's car. Family tried to urge them, then beg for to the very least, checking nearby bodies of water by drone - to which they got response that Zamość doesn't own any drone and they don't have any money for such search.

It is unknown that any actual search was done by the Polish LE since multiple areas of their actions ended up investigated by supervising agencies and deemed to not be a matter of public knowledge.

The claim that Mateusz lied to his family and that his car never entered Poland and never went into Szczecin area was based on checkup that was done on only two border crossings in Szczecin area: Kołbaskowo i Lubieszyn.
Nearby border crossings in Warnik and Gryfino were not checked.

Thank you for the photos definitely paints a clearer picture of the barn. As for this theories in my mind it’s possible somebody in his family/friend group was responsible for what happened to him and to hide evidence they got rid of the car, then they took his remains to the barn to frame it as a suicide and in case that wasn’t believed, law enforcement would think the immediate family was involved since the barn was on their property? All speculation, MOO

 

[beubeubeu]

Could he have been a drig user? That could explain teeth and possible strange, unusual behavior. Otherwise, is it possible the car stayed in germany, he sold it or otherwise?

Strange case, so sad for his family.

If there was the tiniest hint at him possibly using drugs he would get no attention at all. And apparently sister managed to get local senator's support in fight for attention and proper investigation of the case.

It's impossible for a car to end up sold or abandoned without German's LE knowledge - unless:
a) not located yet,
b) torn and sold/disposed of in parts,
c) trafficked somewhere with different licence plates,
d) not searched for at all.

Poland may not have so many licence plate scanners and much lower budgets but legally sold car is easily traceable. If ever searched for of course.

 

[beubeubeu]

Th

Thank you for the photos definitely paints a clearer picture of the barn. As for this theories in my mind it’s possible somebody in his family/friend group was responsible for what happened to him and to hide evidence they got rid of the car, then they took his remains to the barn to frame it as a suicide and in case that wasn’t believed, law enforcement would think the immediate family was involved since the barn was on their property? All speculation, MOO

I seriously doubt that anyone would dare to carry his body up there from different location to stage hanging.
Seems hard and pretty risky, also the list of suspects would have to be shortened to only those close enough to know family habits and interior of that barn (which seems to be easily accessible from the side that's invisible from the house).

 

[fridaybaker]

I don't seem to recall the family addressing the cigarette butts, but I'm probably forgetting. Can someone refresh my memory: Was he a smoker?

Thank you!