Eleven years ago, on January 24, 2012, late in the afternoon, Katarzyna W. went to the police station in Sosnowiec. The woman alarmed the officers, claiming that someone had kidnapped her six-month-old daughter Magdalena. W. testified that she had been struck on the back of the head by an attacker, causing her to lose consciousness. When she woke up, the child was no longer in the stroller. A neighbor found the unconscious Katarzyna W. - "She looked like she was dead. She had a hood on her head. No visible injuries. The empty stroller was standing nearby. Two young men were walking behind me, and I asked them to call the police and an ambulance," Żaneta told "Fakt."
Katarzyna W. Reported Her Daughter’s Kidnapping: "Give Me Back My Pearl, My Madzia"
"I don’t remember the blow; suddenly everything went black. On the middle of the stroller lay a fox, her toy and music box, with which she fell asleep. I saw the empty stroller. Madzia was gone. They took her along with the blanket," she said in the media. The police immediately began searching—according to the mother’s description, the kidnapper might have been a tall man dressed in a down jacket with a black stripe. "He started following me. He appeared and disappeared along the entire route," the woman claimed. In addition to the authorities, ordinary citizens also joined the search. Photos of little Madzia were spread on television, in the press, and on the internet.
Two days later, detective Krzysztof Rutkowski joined the operation, offering his help in searching for Katarzyna W.'s daughter. However, no trace of the child or the kidnapper was found. On January 29, Katarzyna W., Rutkowski, and the girl’s father appealed to the kidnapper in the media to confess and return the child in exchange for a guarantee of impunity. "We hope that Madzia will be found; we will do everything. We only care about Madzia," the parents said. "Give me back my pearl, my Madzia. Give me back my daughter!" pleaded Katarzyna W.
"She Slipped Out of My Hands, the Blanket Was So Slippery". Katarzyna W. Finally Admitted
On February 2, Krzysztof Rutkowski revealed a conversation that had taken place between him and Katarzyna W. For the first time, the woman admitted that her daughter had not been kidnapped but had died in a "tragic accident." According to her account, Madzia had slipped out of her hands and then fell to the floor, hitting her head on the threshold. "She slipped out of my hands, the blanket was so slippery," she said in the recording. The girl was said to have died on the spot. Katarzyna W., fearing the consequences, hid her daughter’s body and staged a kidnapping.
On February 3, Katarzyna W. led the police to the place where she had hidden her daughter’s body. It was near a dilapidated building close to the railway tracks. The child was dressed in a snowsuit, which had previously been described by the mother in the kidnapping version. The body had been covered with stones. The corpse lay for 11 days in freezing temperatures, allowing for the autopsy of Małgorzata. Katarzyna W. was then charged with involuntary manslaughter.
On February 15, the girl’s funeral took place. Katarzyna W. did not attend the ceremony, although she had been released from detention an hour earlier.
Madzia from Sosnowiec Was Suffocated by Her Mother
The investigation continued, and further examinations revealed that the story of a tragic accident was not true. In July 2012, experts concluded that little Madzia had died from suffocation. Katarzyna W. was arrested, later placed under police supervision. However, she began to violate the terms and went into hiding. Photos of Katarzyna W. surfaced in the media, showing her in a bikini on vacation or dancing on a pole in a nightclub. After a warrant was issued for her arrest, W. was captured—on November 21, 2012, near Białystok.
In February 2013, the trial began, and Katarzyna W. was charged with premeditated murder. It was revealed that as early as January 19, 2012, she had tried to harm her daughter—attempting to poison her with carbon monoxide and then throwing the child onto the floor. When that didn’t work, she suffocated her daughter. Before the crime, she had searched the internet for ways to "kill without a trace," "how much a child’s funeral costs," and "how much social assistance pays."
On September 3, 2013, the court sentenced W. to 25 years in prison—while the prosecution had demanded a life sentence, citing psychological expert reports stating that Katarzyna W. was a pathological liar and lacked higher emotions. The perpetrator herself never explained her motive for the murder.
The verdict stipulated that the woman could not apply for parole before serving 20 years of her sentence. Katarzyna W. will not be eligible for release before 2032.
