Investigators prolong inquiry into triple murder and ask U.S. for help in locating prime suspect

Under international legal assistance, the prosecutor's office investigating the triple homicide has asked the United States to share additional data received from a global internet company.

"The Regional Prosecutor in Katowice has approved a request from the prosecutor in charge of this investigation and extended the proceedings against Jacek Jaworek by further months," District Prosecutor's Office in Częstochowa spokesperson, Tomasz Ozimek, said on Monday (January 2).

He added that since the previous decision to prolong the inquiry, in October 2022, some witnesses have been additionally questioned. As part of international legal assistance, U.S. judiciary has shared data it received from a global internet company with Polish investigators. The said data pertains to logging information which might help to determine the suspect's movements after the murders had been committed (the prosecutors received similar data earlier on from telecom providers).

After analysing the data recently sent by the Americans, Polish police have decided the documentation requires additional information. "Therefore, the prosecutor has already asked the American side to supplement this information with further computer data, which is the actual basis for the inquiry extention," Ozimek explained.

In recent months the investigators have received a supplementary forensic opinion from expert witnesses regarding ballistics. Expert witnesses have already issued their final opinion regarding the cause of death of Jaworek's victims as well as the likely chain of events.

Apart from forensic and ballistics expertise, the prosecutor's office has gathered plenty of other expert opinions, including computer science, genetics, and chemical analysis. Polygraph tests were carried out during questioning of witnesses. Among nearly 100 witnesses questioned in the investigation there were Jacek Jaworek's friends, family members as well as Borowce village residents. They were asked about the crime, situation in the Jaworek family, and the suspect's possible whereabouts.

The search after Jacek Jaworek - who back in the years used to work in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy - is still ongoing. In June, 2022, the Voivodeship Police HQ in Katowice published possible variants of the suspect's appearance - the so-called progressive facial composites. In November last year, hundreds of police officers, supported by Mountain Volunteer Search and Rescue, Territorial Defence Force, Forest Guard, and Volunteer Fire Service once again scoured the area around Borowce village in search of Jaworek's body. The operation took a few days but to no effect.

According to the prosecutor's office, two versions of events are still being considered. The first one assumes Jaworek is alive and is hiding either somewhere in Poland, or abroad. The second version is that he is dead and his remains are in an unknown location.

On July 10, 2021, police officers were called to a domestic disturbance in Borowce village near Częstochowa. Upon entering the house, they found bodies of spouses, both aged 44, and their 17-year-old son. All three had been shot. The younger son, aged 13 at the time, had managed to first hide himself and then run away. He is the key witness in the investigation.

From the very beginning the findings have been pointing at the 44-year-old man's brother, Jacek Jaworek, who had moved in to live with the victims in their home in Borowce village after completing a prison sentence (from March to June, 2021) for refusing to pay alimony.

Shortly after committing the crime, Jaworek has fled. An arrest warrant, a European Arrest Warrant, and an Interpol Red Notice have been issued after the 53-year-old man. Chief of Voivodeship Police in Katowice has also offered a 20,000 zlotys reward for information that might help to detain Jacek Jaworek or locate his body.