Man Accused Of Murdering Estranged Wife, Tying Up Girlfriend
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A domestic disturbance turned deadly in southeast Baltimore. Now the husband has been charged with murdering his estranged wife.
Rochelle Ritchie has the details and how a second victim was able to escape.
According to the charging documents, the suspect has no major criminal offenses and the motive behind this deadly shooting has yet to surface.
Sixty-four-year-old Lukasz Szkiluk has been labeled a killer after Baltimore City police say he shot his estranged wife in the chest.
"Apparently there was some sort of domestic altercation. He called Mrs. Szkiluk to the house late in the evening of June 28," said Detective Angela Carter-Watson.
Charging documents spell out the details of the shooting. According to Szkiluk's girlfriend, who heard the fatal shot that killed Karolina Derezinska-Szkiluk, she had been drinking with Szkiluk when he told her he wanted to take care of things. He then pulled out a gun and ordered her to an upstairs bedroom, where she was bound with duct tape. She then heard him on the phone. A while later, she heard someone at the front door and knew the voice to be that of Szkiluk's estranged wife.
"A brief conversation ensued and apparently he just shot her," said Carter-Watson.
Szkiluk, whose only criminal offenses include urinating in public in 2005 and a theft under $300, is now charged with first and second degree murder.
"I think it's terrible. We have kids in the neighborhood and he seemed like a quiet guy," said a neighbor.
But that's not the end of the deadly lovers' quarrel. The woman who said she heard the shot---who has not been identified---says he showed her the body and then took her back upstairs and tied her to a bed before leaving.
Baltimore City police say the woman was able to escape from a second floor bedroom after chewing through ropes that were tied around her wrist.
"I think he was going to kill her, too, but she got away," said a neighbor.
Those who knew the trio are left wondering what could have driven him to murder.
"He loved the girl but couldn't get away from her, he should have left her a long time ago," a neighbor said.
Szkilkuk is now in the Baltimore City jail, not only facing murder charges but also assault in the first and second degree.
Police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun at the home.
