The Long Road to Justice for Katarzyna Zowada

Do Police Have the Man Who Tortured and Murdered Her?

Katarzyna Zowada, a 23-year-old student, was murdered at some point between mid-November 1998 and early January 1999, but it would be 2017 before enough evidence could be found to make an arrest in the case.

Before her disappearance, Katarzyna was studying religion at Jagiellonian University located in Krakow. She was known to friends as a somewhat quiet, withdrawn person who was prone to depression since her father’s death two years earlier. She was struggling to find her way, changing majors twice after her first semester in college, from psychology to history and finally, to religious studies.

Katarzyna was first reported as missing on November 12, 1998. She was supposed to meet her mother at a psychiatric clinic where she had previously been treated for her depression. When she failed to show up, her mother notified the police and was instructed to wait rather than file the missing person reports she sought. Unfortunately, this is often the case with missing women. Who knows how many might be saved if the concerns of their loved ones were taken more seriously sooner?

Almost two months later, members of the crew aboard the Elk, a pusher tug working on the Vistula, found a piece of foreign matter floating near their ship. Fishing it out, they were incredulous to find that it appeared to be human skin and located the authorities. Subsequent DNA testing indicated that it belonged to Katarzyna. Eight days…