The Murder of Kara Laczynski (Connecticut)

Almost 38 years later, the truth about what happened to Kara Lacsynski and who is responsible for her death still has yet to be revealed. Two suspects were arrested and charged in the case, but after three trials with three separate juries and weeks upon weeks of testimony, no one has ever been convicted. 

Here’s what investigators thought, and tried to convince the jury, really happened based on highly disputed evidence that stirred controversy even before it hit a courtroom. But with the case unsolved, what could be done today, with contemporary forensics, to figure out once and for all what happened on that October night in 1987?

The Discovery

It was a Monday morning, October 5, 1987, and a new-ish reporter at the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut hadn’t shown up for work yet. According to Liz Willen’s reporting for the Hartford Courant, 24-year old Kara Laczynski had been at the paper only a few months at that point, but she was reliable and conscientious, and wouldn’t have missed work without letting someone know. So, when her absence was noted by an associate editor at the paper, another reporter who lived next door to Kara was sent to see if she could find her.

The fellow reporter tried calling Kara’s apartment but there was no answer, so she walked over to the building at 31 Evergreen Avenue in Hartford. That’s when she noticed that the screen on Kara’s bathroom window was neatly slit.Unsettled at the sight, the reporter went to find a maintenance worker for the building, and together, they went inside Kara’s apartment. That’s when they found her nude body on the floor. The telephone had been ripped from the wall, so the maintenance worker plugged it in and called police.

A swarm of Hartford Police detectives soon arrived at Kara’s small efficiency apartment. From the first assessment of her body and the scene, it appeared that this was a burglary that turned violent and deadly. Dresser drawers were stacked up on top of Kara’s bed and clothing was tossed onto the floor from her closet. Some of Kara’s stuff, including her class ring, may have been stolen.

Peter Leyden and Valerie Finholm report for the Hartford Courant that Kara’s wrists were bound in front of her using leather straps that were cut from a purse or two at the scene. There was also a black vinyl belt and a terry cloth bathrobe sash around her neck and torso. She had scrapes on her back, knees, shins, and arms as well as bruises on her body. The marks on her back were believed to have been caused by a sharp object the size of a coin, possibly a penny.

The medical examiner ruled that Kara likely died between 1 and 2 a.m. on October 5th, early in the morning on the same day she was found, and concluded that she was both manually strangled and that her assailant also used the terry cloth sash and vinyl belt. The fact that Kara was found nude raised questions of possible sexual assault. However, the medical examiner later ruled that she was not sexually assaulted.

Kara’s killer or killers may have encountered her while she was in the bathtub, hence her state of undress. The tub was full of water when police first arrived at the scene, and Kara’s hair was wet, too.

The apartment was in disarray and forensic technicians early on the scene began collecting and photographing everything. Actually not everything, because a forensic expert working part-time for Hartford PD collected a pair of scissors found about a foot from Kara’s head on the floor of the bathroom before any photos could be snapped of their placement.

The cut bathroom screen that Kara’s fellow reporter noticed that day was located on the driveway side of the building about 9 feet off the ground. A pipe that ran along the wall below the window, only about 3 feet from the ground, could serve as a step to reach the bathroom window. The screen had been neatly cut on three sides and pulled back.

After further investigation, police determined that whoever strangled Kara probably did not climb through the cut bathroom window, though it was not entirely ruled out. It was only about 2 feet by 2 feet in size; small for a person to shimmy through. Forensic examination indicated it was more likely that the killer entered through the front door. That raised the question: Did Kara know her killer or killers and willingly let them inside?

That question, among countless others, were the focus of the early investigation into Kara’s murder as police tried to figure out who would want the woman dead, and why. She wasn’t an enemy to anyone, and in fact, everyone who met her found something to love about Kara.

About Kara Laczynski

Kara herself loved piano, real Italian pizza, Jesse Jackson, the Beatles, William Safire, and the Mets. Her friends and family said she could discuss music and art as well as she could dig into politics and literature. She was a fierce protector and advocate for the underdog. She wore a pin that stated boldly: Question Authority..

According to reporting by Theresa Sullivan Barger for the Hartford Courant, Kara attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor’s degree in both English and economics. Journalism wasn’t always her plan, but she’d worked as editor for the Nutley Sun, a weekly newspaper in her home state of New Jersey before moving to Connecticut for the job at the Journal Inquirer only about 7 months before her death.

Managing editor at the Journal Inquirer, Chris Powell, said that in the few short months Kara was at the paper, she proved herself to be, quote, “an excellent reporter: intelligent, educated, friendly, persistent, but courteous and gentle, conscientious, and a fine writer.” End quote.

Vada Crosby reports for the Hartford Courant that over the first weekend in October of 1987, Kara had been in Pennsylvania visiting a friend. On her way back to Connecticut, she stopped by her New Jersey hometown to visit her parents and siblings. She had dinner with them on the night of October 4th. It was the last time they ever saw her alive.

Ongoing Investigation

About a week into the investigation, some personal items that appeared to belong to Kara were recovered from a trash bin and grassy area near her apartment. However, her credit cards, watch, keys and possibly a gold necklace were still missing. Hartford Police put out a notice to other departments to be on the lookout for these items at pawnshops or elsewhere. 

Investigators learned from a neighbor that he heard a woman screaming around 9:45 p.m. that Sunday night and had called the police about it. Early reporting about this tip indicates that investigators on Kara’s case checked it out and the screams didn’t appear to be related to Kara’s murder. Later reports state that the screaming was connected to a domestic dispute next door at 35 Evergreen Avenue. We’re gonna talk more about that in a little bit.

Investigators also spoke to a former resident of Kara’s apartment building. She said that about two weeks before Kara’s murder, a man intercepted her at the front door of the building and said that he got locked out and asked if she’d let him in, and she did. About 15 minutes later, the man knocked on her door and asked to use the phone, and she let him. After hanging up the call, the man started making obscene remarks to her and asked what she would do if he hurt or killed her. She asked him to leave over and over, and he finally retreated after she threw a magazine at him.

On October 28, police met with that former resident to develop a composite sketch of a person believed to be involved in that suspicious incident. He was described as a white male, 25 years old, 6-feet-2 inches tall, about 180 pounds and he had blond hair. The man was wanted for questioning relative to Kara’s murder but not specifically identified as a suspect.

A little less than a month into the investigation of Kara’s murder and the apparent burglary at her apartment, another burglary at another woman’s apartment in Kara’s neighborhood raised the suspicion of investigators. Efrain Hernandez Jr. reports for The Courant that this incident, which occurred on November 3rd, showed unspecified similarities to Kara’s attack and so police collected fingerprints from the scene of that burglary.

The West End neighborhood of Hartford, and specifically the area surrounding Kara’s apartment building, had seen an increase in burglaries over the previous three months. There were four burglaries reported on Kara’s street itself since September 1.

Working off a burglary angle, the lead investigator and other detectives on the case pulled files from every burglary case in the neighborhood over the previous two years. Narrowing the possibilities down, they handed the files over to state police along with a piece of evidence recovered from Kara’s apartment: A fingerprint on a pair of scissors. 

Hartford Police forensic analyst James McDonald had lifted a smudged partial latent fingerprint from the scissors found on Kara’s bathroom floor. Investigators believed that the killer or killers used the scissors to cut the purse straps used to bind Kara’s wrists, and so that print could prove critical to identifying the perpetrator.

And indeed, the print was critical. State police forensic experts worked in collaboration with Hartford PD, specifically reviewing that print in the context of all the previous burglary suspects. On December 9, 1987, state police investigators found a print among the burglary files that showed similarities to the print left on the scissors. It was tricky though…The State Police fingerprint expert couldn’t say for sure it was the same as the print in the burglary files; there were too few similarities to draw a confident conclusion. 

So, two days later, an FBI specialist analyzed the prints. That analyst was able to identify a match with certainty. The print on the scissors, according to the FBI, allegedly belonged to 22-year old Joseph Lomax.

The use of the word allegedly here is imperative. Because that smudged partial latent print found on the scissors became the center of major controversy and debate almost as soon as Joseph Lomax was arrested and charged with Kara’s murder.

Kara Laczynski’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.