A former Kansas City, Kansas police detective scheduled to stand trial following decades of sexual assault allegations, and accusations of abusing his authority to intimidate and target young Black girls and women has been found dead!
According to NBC News, a warrant was issued to the home of detective Roger Golubski after he failed to appear at a courthouse in Topeka for the first day of jury selection. Law enforcement officials state that a 911 call had been received in the Kansas suburb of Edwardsville area.
Upon their arrival, officers discovered Roger suffered a fatal gunshot wound. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation confirms that there have been no indications of foul play.
News of Roger’s death was confirmed by Top Justice Department officials in an issued statement. “This matter involved extremely serious charges, and itis always difficult when a case is unable to be fully and fairly heard in a public trial and weighed and determined by a jury,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke and Kate Brubacher, the U.S. attorney for Kansas.
“The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains. We wish them peace and the opportunity for healing as they come to terms with this development and ask that they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected.”
Roger was set to stand a civil rights trial for decades of allegedly abusing women. He is said to have pleaded not guilty to six counts of deprivation of civil rights. Federal investigators state that the trial was linked to the rape of a woman from 1998 to 2001 and another woman from 1999 to 2002 while he served as an officer of the law.
Court documents detail that he had also been charged with three incidents in a case where he is accused of running a sex trafficking ring from 1996 to 1998 as he is accused of holding women captive.
Roger has been placed on house arrest as he was receiving regular dialysis treatment. If convicted he faced up to life in prison.
Though had retired in 2010 after 35 years of employment with the Kansas City Police Department, multiple women have come forward to state that his reign of terror continued.
The Kansas City Police Department has also come under fire over surrounding allegations of corruption and civil rights violations in recent years. Local activists have called for a broader investigation for the decades long abuse under Roger.
“I was in shock because I really wanted him to face his day in court. I wanted him to face what he made us face for so many years,” said Michelle Houcks. “It’s not fair at all. They should have locked him up so he could face his accusers. I feel there was a lot of stuff probably going to come out at that court.”
A women scheduled to meet with federal prosecutors to review her testimony in court against Roger says authorities called her to confirm his death.
“I was in shock because I really wanted him to face his day in court. I wanted him to face what he made us face for so many years,” said Michelle Houcks. “It’s not fair at all. They should have locked him up so he could face his accusers. I feel there was a lot of stuff probably going to come out at that court.”
According to KMBC News, in September 1992, Michelle was at Parkwood Park in Kansas City, Kansas, following a heated exchange with her boyfriend.
Court records show, alongside a pending lawsuit filed by Michelle and four other Black women, Roger approached her identifying himself as a police officer and offered to drive her home.
However, the suit states, Roger drove Michelle to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her.
Within the suit Michelle is said to have asked Roger why was he doing this and he allegedly replied, “Because I can”
Speaking out publicly for the very first time in 2023, Michelle recalled how the incident impacted her life.
“I was very suicidal, I was depressed. I wasn’t as trusting as I used to be. So, you know, I had to figure out how to go on with my life. And I went through therapy and all that to make myself feel better about myself,”
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