Casefile True Crime - Case 36: Amok

Episode Date: October 16, 2016

In late 2000, the owner of a Polish advertising company, Dariusz Janiszewski, went missing after going to meet a client. His body was later found floating in a lake, but police had no idea who could be responsible and the Polish press ultimately dubbed the case “the perfect murder.”   --- For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-36-amok

It was 9.30 a.m. November 13th the year 2000. A mail caller phoned an advertising company in the city of Rotslav, Poland. Rotslav is the fourth largest city in Poland and has a population of about 635,000 people. At different times throughout history Rotslav has been part of Bohemia, Hungary, the Austrian Empire, Prussia and Germany. It became part of Poland in 1945 as a result of border changes after the Second World War. The mail caller wanted to speak to the owner of the advertising company, Dariusz Januszewski. He needed three advertising signs made up and he needed it done urgently. But it was the mother of Dariusz who answered the call. When she asked further questions about the job, the caller refused to speak to her. He demanded to speak to Dariusz.

Dariusz wasn't in the office and so his mother gave the caller his cell phone number. She didn't recognize the caller's voice and he didn't leave a name, although she thought he sounded professional. Dariusz returned to the office later that day. He mentioned that he had been contacted by the mail caller about the urgent job and he arranged to meet with him later that afternoon. At 4 p.m. Dariusz left the office to meet with the call. He left his car in the parking lot, which his family said was unusual as he usually took his car when meeting with customers away from the office. Dariusz never returned for his car and he never made it home to his wife. He never contacted anyone to let them know where he was, which was completely out of character. His wife

reported him missing. It was four weeks later on a cold, overcast morning in December. Fishermen were casting out into the river Odra. The spot they were fishing at is a remote, hard spot to get to. It is 60 miles out of the city of Rotslaw, so you can only get there by car, but then you have to park and walk several hundred metres through a forest to get to the river. It wasn't a popular spot. It wasn't frequented by anyone other than fishermen and even that wasn't very often. The fishermen spotted what at first they thought was a log, but as it drifted closer, they saw a head of hair. A closer inspection revealed they had discovered the body of a male. The male had serious injuries. There were signs he had been beaten and tortured. His head was in a

noose and his arms and feet were tied with rope that connected to the noose, so he was in a backward cradle position. It was designed so that the noose would get tighter the more he moved his arms and his legs. The fishermen immediately contacted police who arrived and established a crime scene. Police divers searched the river for any further evidence, but they found nothing. Other police searched the surrounding banks and forest area, but they also turned up nothing. The body had been in the water for quite some time, so zero forensic evidence was located. Police searched through missing person reports and found a match to 35-year-old Darius Yanishevsky. In the post mortem, the forensic pathologist discovered Yanishevsky's stomach was completely empty. This

indicated he had been starved for at least three days prior to his death. At first, the pathologist believed the cause of death was strangulation. However, based on the amount of water found in the lungs, he changed his position and believed Yanishevsky may have been still alive when he was thrown in the river. There was no doubt Yanishevsky had been murdered. Investigators believed, given the way he was killed, that may have been gang-related. They also believed more than one person may have been responsible. Yanishevsky was over six feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds. But criminal psychologist David Holmes believed that given the circumstances, it indicated to him there was a great deal of anger involved. This was extremely personal, and whoever was responsible

had made it their mission to punish Yanishevsky. If police could establish a motive, it would give them a clearer picture if it was gang-related or maybe more personal. They interviewed Yanishevsky's wife, family, friends, and business associates. They learnt he was a successful young businessman. He was popular, friendly, a gentle guy liked by everyone. His hobby was playing his guitar and writing music for a rock band he played in with a few friends. His business records were examined, and there were no signs of any trouble at all. There were no problems in his marriage, and he and his wife were planning to adopt a child in the near future. He had no criminal record, and was not linked to any criminal associates. No debts, no enemies.

Police came up with zero potential motives for murder. The investigation stalled very early on. No forensic evidence, no witnesses, no motive, nothing. The Polish media started referring to the murder as the perfect crime. Police turned to a popular Polish TV show, 997. 997 being the emergency telephone number in Poland. The show is the Polish version of America's Most Wanted. It had already helped solve several other cases police had been stuck on in the past, and it would help give primetime exposure to Yanishevsky's case. The broadcast, though, ended up being considered a disappointment. There were plenty of hits on the website in the months and years after the episode aired.

Police were surprised to learn that the website hits had come from as far as Japan, South Korea, and the United States, which was unusual for the Polish television show. But they got no useful information at all. They were no closer to solving the case. The police had no idea who had killed Yanishevsky. The only other useful piece of information that they had was the call that was made to Yanishevsky's office at 9.30 am the day of his disappearance. That was traced to a payphone down the street from the office. The payphone was also used to call Yanishevsky's cell phone less than one minute after the call to his office. But police weren't even sure the calls were related to his disappearance. The police investigation was

completely abandoned in June 2001. It was sent to the cold case shelf. Yanishevsky's family and his friends remained haunted by his death. But the media attention had died off. The case disappeared from the minds of the public. Around 18 months later, in 2003, Roslav Police conducted a routine review of all unsolved murder cases. The file of Darius Yanishevsky made its way to the desk of Detective Jacek Rubelevsky. Rubelevsky was 38 years old and had been a police officer for nine years. He had strong Catholic values and liked the idea of being a cop and being able to represent the good fighting evil. When he wasn't working as a detective, he studied psychology at university to try and better understand the criminal mind. Rubelevsky was vaguely familiar with Yanishevsky's

murder. He remembered hearing about it at the time, but he didn't know any of the details. He studied the file for several hours when he first got it, trying to find any sign of a clue that had been missed by the original investigators. He found nothing and was initially as stumped as they were. He wasn't sure about the organized crime angle. Didn't seem to make sense to him, given Yanishevsky's background, unless it was a case of mistaken identity. What was perfectly clear to him though was the offender or offenders had a severe hatred and wanted him to suffer. The case stayed with Rubelevsky. He studied the file again the next day and the day after, trying to find something, anything. His persistence paid off. Yanishevsky had his cell phone with him

when he left his office and it had never been found. Rubelevsky focused on trying to track down Yanishevsky's phone. That was his starting point. He wasn't jumping for joy at the lead, he was fully aware the chances of finding it were very slim. It could easily have been missed by the police divers and still be at the bottom of the river, or just about anywhere else for that matter. He enlisted the help of a newly hired telecommunication specialist. The specialist explained that if the phone wasn't lost or destroyed and it was still being used, they could easily track it, but they would need the IMEI number. They were in luck. After all this time Yanishevsky's wife still had the receipt from when the phone was purchased

and on that receipt was the IMEI number. Rubelevsky couldn't believe his luck when they discovered the phone was still actively being used. Rubelevsky tracked down the current owner of the phone. This owner had only recently purchased it. They were quickly eliminated from the investigation, but Rubelevsky tracked down the person they had brought it from. And on and on it went. The phone had been bought and sold several times since Yanishevsky disappeared. By working backwards through the phone owners, Rubelevsky eventually found the man who had possession of it only days after Yanishevsky disappeared. This man had purchased the phone from an internet auction site, Allegro, just three days after Yanishevsky went missing.

Rubelevsky was able to find the listing. The seller's username on the auction site was chrisb7. Rubelevsky traced the registration details of chrisb7 and found out that username belonged to a man by the name of Christian Barla. Christian Barla was the eldest of two children. Born into a middle-class family, his father was a construction worker and a taxi driver. He was a bright and intellectual child and a good student. Although through junior school and high school, he often had conflict with other students. He was very egocentric and considered himself to be superior to other students. He was the first member of his family to go to university where he studied philosophy. His big ego and supreme confidence

remained, but at university he was immensely popular both with fellow students and with lecturers. Some considered him to be a student Casanova as he attracted a lot of female attention. One professor described him as having a very inquisitive and rebellious mind. Through university, he started to turn into a bit of a fabricator of stories about himself. He liked to play games with people. He made up so many stories that it got to the point where even his friends didn't know what stories were and weren't true about him. Barla was one of the brightest philosophy students at the University of Rotslav. He graduated in 1997 with the highest possible grades and then enlisted in the PhD program. He always dreamed of an academic career.

However, things changed. He had married his sweetheart Stasher and she had given birth to a son. He now had a family to support, so he dropped out of the PhD program and bought a cleaning business. He was incredibly smart, but he wasn't a good businessman. He blew all of the money that came in and by 1999 he had filed for bankruptcy. His marriage crumbled as well. Stasher said the main problem with their marriage is that Barla couldn't stop cheating on her. There were always other women. They divorced in 1999 and two years later Barla was living abroad. He had lived in Asia and the United States, making a living by writing for travel magazines, teaching scuba diving, and teaching English. In 2003, Barla published his first novel titled A Mock. Nothing stood out in

the initial background check of Barla. Hardly any criminal record, just very minor stuff. Rubelevsky was keeping a very open mind. He thought it was quite possible Barla had a totally innocent explanation for selling Yanishevsky's phone. Maybe he'd found it, maybe it had been given to him by somebody else, or maybe he'd even bought it at a second hand store. As Rubelevsky couldn't go overseas to speak to Barla and there was nothing really jumping out at him on his background check. He decided to focus in on the novel he had written, A Mock. A Mock is a sadistic novel. It contains graphic sex and violent scenes. The story revolves around the main character, Chris. He is a bored,

Polish intellectual who is into philosophy. His wife catches him having sex with her best friend, and so she leaves him. Chris then starts abusing alcohol and goes on a sexual rampage sleeping with many other women. Throughout the book, Chris mocks traditional philosophers and criticizes the Catholic Church. In one scene, Chris and a buddy steal the statute of sanithony from a church. In Chapter 9 of the book, Chris murders his girlfriend Mary by tying a noose around her neck and stabbing her. He conceals the murder so well he is never caught. The main character, Chris, also hints in the book that he had previously killed a man who had done him wrong. The book was published in 2003 and it didn't do too well. Few Polish bookstores carried

it because of its graphic nature and those that did carry it placed it on the high shelves out of the way so children couldn't pick it up. Despite only selling a few thousand copies, Barla said this, I'm truly convinced that one day my book will be appreciated. History teaches that some works of art have to wait ages before they are recognized. Rubelewski considered a few things. Chris, the name of the main character, is the English version of Barla's first name, Christian. It is also the name he used on the auction site to sell Januszewski's phone. The book describes getting away with murder. The victim in the book is a woman, however there are similarities with the noose around her neck. But what made the hairs on the back of Rubelewski's neck stand up

was the part of the book where Chris sells the knife he used in the murder on an internet auction site. The detail of Januszewski's phone being sold on an internet auction site after his murder was never made known to the public. Rubelewski could see parallels between the book and the real-life murder investigation of Januszewski. His thought was that there were too many parallels to be just the coincidence. Rubelewski looked into the character of Chris more closely and found the following similarities to Barla. Both Chris and Barla were consumed by philosophy. Both had been left by their wives. Both had a company go bankrupt. Both travelled around the world. Both abused alcohol. And the scene where Chris stole the statue of St. Anthony matched

one of the entries on Barla's criminal record. He had been arrested for stealing a statue of St. Anthony from a church. Rubelewski knew that these similarities were evidence of nothing. It's quite common for authors to draw from their own life experiences when writing books and creating characters. Rubelewski wondered though if Barla had gotten the inspiration for Chris's murder scene from a real-life event. Barla became his prime suspect for the murder of Darius Januszewski. Although he was quite aware he didn't really have any evidence, other than the fact that Barla had sold Januszewski's phone three days after his disappearance. That was nowhere near enough to extradite Barla back to Poland. Rubelewski couldn't

even find a connection between Barla and Januszewski. There was no evidence that they had known each other. Rubelewski didn't question Barla's family or close friends. He couldn't risk them tipping off Barla because the fear was he would never return to Poland if he thought the police were after him. Barla had made sporadic visits back home to briefly visit family and friends. So Rubelewski would be patient and hope that Barla would return again. Rubelewski continued studying Barla's book. He handed out chapters of the book to different officers and got them to analyse it, trying to find any other clues or hidden messages that could be connected to Januszewski's case. Rubelewski became obsessed with the last line of the book

which reads, This was the one killed by blind jealousy. Rubelewski believed Barla may be giving them the motive to Januszewski's murder with this line. Jealousy. He also became fixated on the part of the book where Chris hints at murdering a man who had done him wrong in the past. Was Barla telling them something? Rubelewski was undertaking a very unorthodox investigation method and not everybody supported it. He was warned to proceed very, very carefully. A work of fiction didn't mean murder. But Rubelewski was convinced a mock was a roadmap which led to the murder of Darius Januszewski. As Rubelewski looked harder at Barla, he found something else on the internet auction site Allegro. One month before Januszewski disappeared, Barla had clicked on a

book titled Accidental Suicide or Criminal Hanging. It was a police manual and in it were descriptions of different ways to tie a noose. Again, it was evidence of nothing. But it was another little piece of information that when added to everything else, Rubelewski knew. Didn't look good for Barla. Barla eventually returned to Poland in 2005. Rubelewski had been working Januszewski's case for two years. Barla's passport flagged when he entered the country. He was arrested on the 5th of September after leaving a drugstore. Barla gave away nothing at first. He denied having anything to do with the murder. He was dismissive of police questions and said he didn't even know Januszewski, had never met him, had never even heard of him,

had no idea who he was. When Barla was asked about selling his cell phone, he said he couldn't remember where he got it from. It was five years ago. They then questioned Barla about a mock. Barla agreed he had used different parts of his life in the novel such as the stealing of the statue. But Barla said, show me an author who doesn't do that. Then they asked the question, did you have help killing Januszewski? Barla almost looked offended and chillingly replied he did not have any help. He killed him on his own. But almost as soon as he said that he started urgently looking around the room and started making weird facial expressions. He asked for something to drink because he was feeling terrible.

Then requested a doctor. The interview had to be suspended and an ambulance was called. They examined him but couldn't find anything wrong with him. They said he was fine to continue. The interview was restarted. Barla retracted his confession, then refused to say anything further. He wouldn't sign the interview documents so the police were unable to use what he had said because it wasn't signed. He was given a polygraph test. The results were declared inconclusive. In Poland, police can hold a suspect for 48 hours. Then they have to either lay charges or release. The case against Barla was still circumstantial at best. There was no solid evidence against him at all. No motive, no confession. And police still hadn't been able to link Barla to Januszewski.

They decided to charge him with selling stolen property, being Januszewski's phone, and for paying a bribe. This is something that had nothing to do with the murder investigation. It was something police uncovered in their extensive background investigation of Barla. The charges meant Barla would have to relinquish his passport and remain in Poland. Rublewski had worked hard on the case for two years, but he just couldn't connect the dots. He felt the investigation slipping away from him. As he was sitting back flicking through Barla's passport, he noticed stamps for South Korea, Japan, and the United States. It clicked almost immediately. The hits on the page dedicated to Januszewski's murder

on the 997 website. At the time, they were baffled as to why a local Polish case was attracting attention from those countries. Rublewski compared the dates of the website hits to the dates Barla was in those countries. And they were a perfect match. It strengthened his belief he was on the right track. But again, it still was an evidence of murder. Meanwhile, Barla was a free man while he was waiting for the two charges to be heard. He was accusing police of harassing him, trying to persecute him for his art. He also made a complaint he was kidnapped and tortured by police when he was first arrested. He got some support from friends and members of the public who were outraged police were

unfairly targeting a man because of a novel he wrote. One of Barla's previous girlfriends set up a defence fund for him. And an internet campaign was launched about the police persecution of Barla. The campaign said Barla was being persecuted for writing a book that went against the Catholic Church and a Polish tradition. Barla became a victim. They contacted human rights organisations and letters poured in from around the world defending Barla and his right to freedom of expression in accordance with Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. People were demanding that Rublewski and other officers involved in the case be held accountable and brought to justice.

A psychiatric evaluation was ordered on Barla. He was found to have narcissistic traits. He considered himself to be a superior human being, smarter, stronger and much more intelligent than anyone else. Rublewski was still trying desperately to find the evidence he needed to charge Barla with murder. He re-examined the phone calls that were made from the payphone to Yanishevsky's office and cell phone. This time with the help of the telecommunication specialist, they discovered the calls had been made with a phone card that had a unique identifying number. Although they weren't able to trace who had bought the card, they could find out what other calls were made with it. They discovered the card had been used to make 32 calls over a three-month

period. Along with the calls to Yanishevsky's office and cell phone, calls were also made to Barla's parents, his girlfriend at the time, other friends of Barla and his business associates. Rublewski didn't really doubt it before, but now he was certain he had the right man, but it still wasn't enough to charge Barla with murder. So Rublewski looked further into his breakup with his ex-wife Stasher. Rublewski had tried to interview Stasher numerous times before, but she flat-out refused. So this time Rublewski tracked down one of her friends, who was able to fill him in with what he needed to know. Barla was extremely possessive and controlling of Stasher. He was also physically violent towards her. He would constantly check

her phone, demanding to know who she was talking to, and then he would beat her up, accusing her of cheating on him, even though he cheated on her countless times. Barla could do whatever he liked, but he expected Stasher to do as he told her. After their divorce, Barla remained extremely possessive of Stasher. He would stalk her and did his best to continue to control her every move. In the summer of 1999, after the divorce, Stasher went out with her friend that was now speaking to Rublewski. They went to the Crazy Horse nightclub in Rotslav. Stasher started chatting to Darius Yanishevsky in the club. Stasher's friend knew Yanishevsky from around town, so she was certain it was him she was speaking to. Rublewski was sure he had just connected the dots

between Barla and Yanishevsky, but he needed to hear it from Stasher. Armed with this information, he was finally able to get Stasher to talk to him. What finally convinced her was when Rublewski showed her sections of a mock. Stasher was so disturbed by similarities in the book to what she had experienced in her life that she agreed to talk. Stasher confirmed that she had met Yanishevsky at Crazy Horse nightclub. They spent the night just talking, after which Yanishevsky gave her his phone number. They later went on a date and checked into a motel. However, Stasher says when she found out Yanishevsky was married, she left before anything happened. A few weeks after this incident, Barla showed up at her apartment in a drunken state. He kicked down her door and beat

her. Screaming he knew everything about her and Yanishevsky. He even screamed out what hotel and what room number they went to. As he was beating Stasher, he was screaming he had hired a private detective and he knew everything. When Stasher later heard Yanishevsky had gone missing, she asked Barla if he had anything to do with it. He said he hadn't. Stasher didn't pursue it any further or go to the police with this information as she didn't believe Barla was capable of murder. Upon hearing this, Rublesky immediately thought back to the last line in a mock. This was the one killed by blind jealousy. That line made a whole lot more sense now. Barla was charged with the murder of Darius

Yanishevsky. The first day of the trial was the 22nd of February 2007. In Poland, the jury is made up by the presiding judge, one other judge and three citizens. Barla complained his novel was being misinterpreted and that the police had taken random parts of his life and presented them in a fictional story that suited their theory of the murder. He again claimed he had never met Yanishevsky and didn't know who he was. Police had the information from Stasher but there was no corroborating evidence. It was Stasher's word against Barla's. Barla was claiming Stasher was just being a vindictive ex-wife making up stories trying to get him in trouble. Maybe he could have convinced the jury of that. Maybe not. But police now had more evidence against him. After charging Barla with murder,

they searched his parents' home. Barla had left some belongings there before heading overseas. In amongst those belongings, they found a notebook with details of Yanishevsky and his company written down. They also found a pen and a business card with Yanishevsky's name and company details on them. Barla had always maintained that he never knew Yanishevsky, had never met him, never heard his name, didn't know a thing about him. It was going to be hard to stick to that story now. Prior to the trial commencing, the judge had made a ruling that a mock could not be used as evidence at the trial. The judge didn't consider the description of a fictional murder as evidence. But police had a lot more information now. A witness came forward and testified that

Barla had questioned her extensively about Yanishevsky prior to his disappearance. Barla wanted to know everything about him, where he worked, who his friends and family were, how he could be contacted. A friend of Barla's also came forward and testified that during a New Year's Eve party in 2000, Barla was at the same club as Stasher. Barla thought a male bartender was making advances towards Stasher and he started screaming at him that he would take care of him and he had already dealt with such a guy. It took five people to restrain Barla that night. After all the evidence was presented, the jury retired to reach their verdict. Guilty. Barla was sentenced to 25 years' prison. He immediately appealed his conviction.

The appeal cited logical and factual inconsistencies in the trial, one being the cause of death. Medical examiners could not agree on what the cause of death was. One testified Yanishevsky had been strangled, another testified he had drowned. Barla also used a comment made by the judge in the trial as a grounds for his appeal. During the trial, the judge commented she wasn't sure if Barla had acted alone or with an accomplice. To the surprise of many, the appeals court annulled his conviction. They ordered a new trial, but they ruled that Barla would have to remain in prison until the outcome of the new trial was reached. The appeals court stated that there was an undoubted connection

between Barla and the murder, but there were gaps in the logical chain of evidence. Barla's retrial was heard in December 2008. He was convicted of murder for a second time. The sentence of 25 years was upheld. Barla maintains his innocence and says he's being set up. According to him, all of the evidence against him was planted and somebody is out to destroy him. Some suspect a mock was a confession written to clear Barla's guilty conscience. Others don't see it that way. They believe Barla's desire was to achieve literary immortality by writing what he believed was the perfect story. He's been quoted as saying

there has never been a book quite like this. They believe Barla was too smart for his own good. He thought he was so intellectually superior to everyone else that he never considered being caught was a possibility. That's why he freely wrote about the murder and left behind so much evidence. Barla had started writing a second novel at the time of his arrest. Police seized his computer with the beginning stages of this second novel on it. They also found that Barla was collecting information on Stasher's new boyfriend. He had even posted on an internet forum asking if anyone knew him. They believe Stasher's new boyfriend was going to be Barla's second murder victim, who he would then write about in his second novel. Barla has vowed to finish

his second novel, which he promises will even be more shocking.