www.rutlandherald.com
52 year-old Michael Dubaniewicz was found deceased in his Castleton residence on March 8th, 1998, the victim of a gunshot wound. His death was ruled a homicide and remains unsolved.
Anyone with any information on this, or any other unsolved homicide, is asked to contact the #802VSP Major Crime Unit at 802-244-8781, or submit tips anonymously at vtips.info
Police seek clues in Castleton cold case Gordon Dritschilo | March 09, 2018 By GORDON DRITSCHILO STAFF WRITER In 1998, a Castleton man called Vermont State Police saying his friend and housemate had killed himself. Police quickly determined it was not a suicide, but still can’t say who pulled the trigger. Thursday, on the 20th anniversary of the killing of Michael Dubaniewicz, the VSP Major Crime Unit issued a release seeking information on the unsolved homicide. Capt. Daniel Trudeau said it is one of 56 cold cases in the agency’s files. “From time to time we go through and see where we’re at — are there any potential new angles, potential new technologies for processing evidence,” he said. Trudeau said working on cold cases was part of the Major Crime Unit’s mission when it formed in 2016. He said the organization has improved by “leaps and bounds” since then, but still has a ways to go. “Some of these cases have been in cardboard boxes since the ’70s and ’80s,” he said, adding the state police is in the process of hiring some civilian employees to reorganize and digitize the case files. Trudeau said he was not immediately familiar with the Dubaniewicz case and was not aware of any developments. He said the notice was likely just due to the anniversary — presenting cold cases to the media periodically in the hope of stirring something up is a tactic the unit uses. Newspaper coverage during the week following Dubaniewicz’s death described him as a native of Springfield who had moved to Castleton around 1973 and lived in a distinctive, “medieval-style” three-story house on Frisbee Hill Road. A manufacturing processor on the evening shift at General Electric, he was known around town for being friendly and had often taken people into his home. The previous November, he had taken in Robert Houman and Linda LePenna. Houman had lived with Dubaniewicz on and off since 1992, and the two had known each other since Houman’s family moved to Springfield in the 1970s, according to previous coverage. Media accounts describe Houman as having a chronic alcohol problem, and reported he had a record of 20 convictions going back to the 1970s, including assault with a dangerous weapon, theft, burglary, witness tampering, trespassing, drug charges and escape. He was living with Dubaniewicz in 1993 when firefighters responded to two fires at the house in two days. Houman and LePenna moved in, according to reports, because LePenna’s Rutland apartment had been damaged in a fire investigators deemed accidental. At around 8:30 a.m. on March 8, 1998, Houman placed the call to police. Dubaniewicz was killed by a single .22-caliber gunshot wound to the head. He was lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, but there was another pool of blood on the living room, with blood on the couch, and a single .22 caliber shell was found in the dining room. The .22 Mosberg rifle that killed Dubaniewicz was found in the bushes outside the home. Police said Houman told them they would find his fingerprints on it. The death was ruled a homicide, and police said Houman and LePenna gave inconsistent statements about what happened. “There is no indication it was a random killing,” VSP Lt. Myles Heffernan said days into the investigation. “There is every indication the person felt comfortable being in the residence.” Heffernan would retire five years later, saying the Dubaniewicz case was the only unsolved homicide of his career. At the end of the week following the killing, Houman was arrested on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and making false statements during a firearm purchase. Days before the killing, investigators said, Houman bought the .22 and a 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun from St. John’s Sporting Goods in Fair Haven, and tried to buy a third gun but lacked the money. Police said he gave his real name, but lied about his date of birth and criminal record. Police never charged Houman in the killing. When he pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge in 2000 — receiving a sentence of 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release — the court found there was no proof offered he “was in any way involved” in Dubaniewicz’s death. Following his release, court records show Houman ran afoul of his probation officer over repeated substance abuse. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the major crimes unit at 244-8781, or to submit tips anonymously at vtips.info.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Please keep your comments polite and on-topic. No profanity