What Happened to Beata?
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A heads up that today's episode includes detailed descriptions of suicide. So if that's not for you today, we'll see you next time. Beata Kowalski's tragic death by suicide in January of 2010 has played a huge role in how the Kowalski's lawsuit against Johns Hopkins All Children's has played out. In court, the blame ultimately went to Johns Hopkins as they are being asked to compensate the family for Beata's death to the tune of many millions of dollars.

This death was presented in the plaintiff's story as the ultimate act of motherly love, a heroic sacrifice to save her daughter. Here is lead attorney Gregory Anderson in his closing arguments. What else have they tried to say? What are their other defenses? Well, they blame Beata for taking her own life. And although we'll get into a lot of this more, the fact is that Beata was reacting differently.

to a maternal instinct that she had almost no, and in fact, no ability to control. It was the same thing as a mother jumping out in front of a truck to push her two-year-old out of the way, knowing that it would take her life. And when there's a competition between the maternal instinct and the self-preservation instinct, the maternal instinct is going to win each time.

And in the film Take Care of Maya, they draw a straight line between the judge not allowing Beata to hug Maya in court during that final hearing to Beata's death two days later. It never made any sense to me why she was denied giving her child that hug. And I can tell you, as we left the courthouse that day, that Beata was devastated. Devastated.

And the one thing that I know to this day is none of us can get that hug back now. That hug is gone. Do you think if she had hugged her, things would have turned out differently? Yes, I do. I do. But the real story is far less straightforward. And today, we're digging into it. What really happened to Beata? People believe their eyes.

That's something that actually is so central to this whole issue and to people that experience this, is that we do believe the people that we love when they're telling us something. If you questioned everything that everyone told you, you couldn't make it through your day. I'm Andrea Dunlop, and this is Nobody Should Believe Me.

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Mike Tirico here with some of the 2024 Team USA athletes. What's your message for the team of tomorrow? To young athletes, never forget why you started doing it in the first place. You have to pursue something that you're passionate about. Win, lose, or draw, I'm always going to be the one having a smile on my face. Finding joy in why you do it keeps you doing it.

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Did you know that I have a new book coming out? True Story. And unlike my previous books, this one actually is a true story. The Mother Next Door, Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy, which I co-authored with friend of the show, Detective Mike Weber, chronicles three of his most harrowing and impactful cases—

Longtime listeners of the show will have some familiarity with these cases, but I promise you will learn so much more about them, and you'll also just learn so much more about Detective Mike's journey in this arena and also mine. Dr. Mark Feldman, another friend of the show and an esteemed expert in all things Munchausen by proxy, read an early copy, and this is what he had to say about it.

a truly vital, groundbreaking, and riveting contribution to the true crime literature on child abuse. Over the past four decades, I have read just about everything dealing with medical deception, including Munchausen by proxy abuse, and can easily affirm that this immensely readable book is the most important literary work since Professor Rory Meadow coined the Munchausen by proxy term 50 years ago. And if you don't think that that endorsement from that particular man made me cry...

You would be wrong. So the book comes out on February 4th of next year. And now I know what you're thinking. Andrea, why are you talking to me about this right now? February is approximately 100 years from now. We have to do a whole election and whatever else before then.

And I hear you, but I'm telling you this now because as you may know, if you have any other authors in your life, pre-orders are vital to a book's success and will really affect how our publisher positions and supports the book's launch. So if you think you are going to buy this book, doing so now will really help us out. It's available for pre-order in all formats wherever books are sold, and you can find it at a link in the show notes. I hope you will love it, and I appreciate your support.

In today's episode, we're going to be digging into some new information around Beata Kowalski's death in January of 2017. If you are just joining us, you'll want to start by listening to season three where we covered this case. Or if you're in a hurry, you can listen to the Kowalski catch-up playlist on Spotify, which I'll link to in our show notes. Or if you really want to go all the way down the rabbit hole, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Patreon, where I did real-time trial coverage.

I do two bonus episodes a month for subscribers, and currently we are unpacking the Justina Pelletier case, which has oh so many parallels to this story. If monetary support isn't an option, rating and reviewing the show also really helps, as does telling friends about the show on social media or wherever you talk to people. And you can now find our show on YouTube, where we have full episodes as well as lots of bonus content. Now, on with the show.

You know, I really worry about the impact that this all has on Maya, to think that her mother somehow died to save her, especially because we now know from email exchanges between Beata and the social worker that Maya was talking to her mom on FaceTime hours before her death. She seemingly was the last person to speak to her.

But while this tidy narrative about Beata dying to free Maya from the hospital seemed to have moved the jury, I don't believe they got the full story, especially as they couldn't hear any testimony from the defense about medical child abuse, thanks to Judge Hunter Carroll's ruling halfway through the trial that the medical child abuse allegations against Beata were no longer relevant to the case.

I just want to say at the top of this episode that I do not know what to make of everything I'm about to share with you, which comes from documentation in the public record. I am not in a position to draw any conclusions about what happened here, but as has been my goal all along, I'm trying to present a more complete picture of this complicated case.

So we already covered some of the really strange circumstances of the days leading up to Beata's death in a previous episode. That's episode four of last season called Retaliation. And this episode is really a companion episode to that one. I will go ahead and link to that in the show notes. But what we mostly had to go off at that point was Jack's retelling of things, as well as what was in the police reports of the night of the death and the night before. And so we're going to go ahead and link to that in the show notes.

So, to recap, here is Jack's version of events of the night before Beata's death when she went missing for many hours, as he talks about in his interview with the police. Did your wife give you any indication that this would happen? No, but the night before, I called the police because she was missing. You know, it was unusual for her to be gone. She said she went to CVS, or going to CVS, and she, when I was bottling wine with Kyle and, uh,

you know i bottled all the wine i cleaned up and it's like she's still not here so i i did call the police that felt weird and i looked in my safe don't know why i did but my handgun was missing and then uh she came back about 12 30 that night so what time did she leave i honestly don't know if you

I honestly don't. You made a report? Yeah, yeah, they came here in Sarasota County. In Sarasota, okay. And then when she came home, I called them again and said she was home. But there was no fighting or anything like that. She just, that was most likely because of what the judge, you know. Jack goes on to describe the hours leading up to Beata's death. Next morning, I got up. I took Kyle with to go visit Maya. And, uh...

She went for a massage and she had a 10 o'clock appointment. Okay. Do you know where that was at? No, I don't. You know, she buys so many, I don't even, it's in Sarasota somewhere. And then what time did you guys come back? We left the hospital around 3, so we got back at 4. Beata was sleeping in Kyle's room with the door locked. And Kyle goes, I got a little screwdriver up above my door. He unlocked it, he went in there, he talked to her for a while.

One of my biggest questions surrounding this series of events was why did he leave her alone in the house? He was obviously concerned enough to call the police the night before when she went missing. And according to him, he also was worried enough about her to call her family. You know what really bugged her the most? We went to court Friday. My daughter was at court. She was promised to see my daughter at that, you know, at court.

And the judge refused to let her see her. And that really hurt her. I called her family all yesterday because, you know, she's upset. She needs support. Beata appeared to have been in really bad shape after the court hearing. And it seemed like the fact that Jack didn't keep a closer eye on her over the weekend could be a sign of a growing rift between the couple. But according to Jack, they had remained a united front.

this whole thing didn't put a strain on your marriage. Oh, definitely. Yeah, but we stick together. Gotcha. Okay. So it's not like... No, no, no. No, it affects you.

So just to recap, the night of her death, Jack and Kyle go to a birthday party and Beata stays home. And honestly, while I don't think there's anything necessarily suspicious about this, it does seem unwise to me to leave your spouse alone under the circumstances. And it always seemed even more inexplicable to me that, worried about her as he says he was, Jack didn't even check on Beata when they got home from the party. What time did you guys come back? Uh, we were there...

I could be wrong. Maybe 9, 9.30 or so. And that door was closed again, so we didn't bother her. Was it closed or locked? Do you know? I don't know. I don't know. Okay, that's fine. So Jack gets home. He goes to sleep. Kyle falls asleep on the couch. Then at some point, Beata's brother, Peter, shows up at the house, evidently unannounced. And I didn't even know he was coming. You know, it was...

Somebody was banging on the door and ringing the bell, and I heard a voice, and I didn't know who it was. What time was that? It was after midnight. I honestly don't even know what time he could tell you. Okay, so he came in. Where did he sleep? Obviously, he said he slept in Kyle's bed. When we got back home, we watched some home shows, and then we were on the couch. I can't sleep on those things. You stick to them. So what time do you think he went to bed?

Oh, it had to be about 10 or 11, maybe 11. And the next thing you would, were you woken up by your brother-in-law? Knocking on the door, ringing the bell. Did you guys stay up or you just... No, no, I opened the door. I was in my underwear. I just opened the door and went back. And finally, in the early morning hours, it was Peter who discovered Beata's body. Actually, her brother came in last night and he went in the garage because he couldn't find her and...

He started screaming. This is obviously a really sad and disturbing series of events. And the way it played out just always seemed odd to me. And I've had questions since first reading the police reports. But after hearing Beata's brother, Peter, talk about these events via the interview he did with the same police detective Jack spoke to the day of Beata's death and via his deposition in court, I have some new questions. So let's back up to the days leading up to Beata's death.

According to Peter, he became extremely alarmed when he heard from his older sister Elizabeth, again, there are four siblings altogether, Beata was the youngest, that Beata had disappeared for many hours the night after the court hearing, seemingly with Jack's gun. I was calling all the time.

I think when I entered the home was basically after midnight. Do you know who was home? Jack, well, it was a strange story. I called Jack several times. Several. I was calling an awful number. He was in line, I knew. And early morning, early morning we started like, I have no knowledge that at home they had a gun. I had, basically my older sister told me that

My sister told me that she sent him to take the gun away. My sister reported to me that he said that the gun was in his brother's house. So when I talked to him the last time yesterday, I asked him why the gun is here, because you told my older sister that the gun is with your brother. I brought it for security.

And after I asked him, "Is it true that you gave my sister divorce letter?" He disconnected. He said he has to take me off the car. And I called him sir maybe 20 times. This is what time did you call him when he hanged up on you? It was yesterday early morning. Okay. Yes. So after this, my older sister called me and we decided immediately, "There's something going on."

I decided about noon time I'll be flying at 5:25 from Chicago. This was the flight available. We were both flying but only one place was available. So we make a decision that I'm flying first, I'm renting the car and I'm supposed to pick her up today about noon.

Beata was, understandably, very distraught about the court hearing, and according to their depositions, her siblings were very worried that she might hurt herself or someone else. So by the way, there do appear to be conflicting reports about whether or not Beata was actually in possession of Jack's gun when she disappeared the night before her death, which eventually led Jack to call the police.

What is clear is that everyone, including Jack, believed that she had the gun with her. And her siblings were really angry about this because they had previously asked Jack to get the gun out of the house, given everything that was going on. But the court case wasn't the only thing that Beata was so upset about that night. Evidently, Jack had just served her with divorce papers.

And according to his deposition, as they were going back and forth on the phone the day before Beata's death, her brother, Peter, attempted to confront Jack about this.

I asked him, "Is it true that you gave my sister divorce letter?" And after this, he hung up on me. And after this, I called him, I can't get through, I did all the records, I was calling. He doesn't know that actually I was on the phone with his lawyer. When I was talking with his lawyer, because it was time before the departure from Chicago, so I think we talked like 40 minutes with Debra, with his lawyer.

Did he ever give her divorce papers? You just don't know. What it is, my older sister said that this was basically multiple instances. He was pressuring her. And basically what it is, during the court hearing, he, without letting her know, he took the coyote and without letting her know, he took the coyote and they drove, took her suitcases, they actually went to his brother. And Beata was very crying. I told Beata that...

Peter, it seems, was especially upset about this and felt betrayed because he had been trying to help the couple out financially. So let me take you back last night when you asked Jack, where is Beata? What did he tell you?

I don't recall that he provided me any answer. Did he talk to you at all? We didn't talk at all. He basically opened the door and said, "Oh, Peter is here." He was surprised, but because he didn't know that I'm coming, even though I tried to basically call him so many times.

And also I told Debra when I spoke yesterday with his lawyer, he doesn't have knowledge of it, that I was coming. And basically, you know, I told Debra that I gave my brother, you know, $10,000 and he gave my sister divorce papers. Throughout his deposition, Peter makes various mentions of paying some expenses for the kids and offering financial help to the Kowalskis. Though I don't have independent confirmation of these transactions because it didn't ultimately come to play in court.

So, the night after the court hearing, Beata disappeared, seemingly with Jack's gun, for many hours, and Jack called the police. According to Jack, Beata returned on her own late that night and appeared to be intoxicated.

It was the following evening that Jack and Kyle went to that birthday party and left Beata alone in the house. Peter then arrived at Jack and Beata's house late that evening after taking a last-minute flight from Chicago, and he was met with a very strange scene when he arrived.

So let me bring you back to over here last night. So you get here after midnight. Who opens the door for you? The door opened after I called, Jacek opened the door, after I called security company because he did not open the door. And I called him a hundred times.

Okay, so he finally comes to the door. Yes, I basically I flipped the lights in the you know, the headlights up. I illuminated the entire house. I was very surprised, very surprised the house totally dead, totally dark. So like something very strange. Normally the house was always illuminated outside the light. I'm coming there was no light. Okay. After ringing the bell for a couple of times, I have a security code to open garage door.

but I didn't want to basically freak everybody so I called the security company and the security company gave me the instructions how to disable the alarm if the alarm goes off. So I'm keeping the numbers and I'm pressing and then Jack opened the doors. Because it was very cold and I realised that I was going to sleep in the car eventually. So what did he say to you? He says I was asking for... We did not discuss much.

It appears that Peter had been to this house many times, and since on this occasion he arrived in the middle of the night and presumably didn't want to wake everyone up, he attempted to let himself into the house using the key entry pad on the garage door. But when he went to do so, he found that it had been disabled. And furthermore, all of the lights in the house were off. Eventually, Jack came and let him in and then went back to bed. And I have to say again,

This is just weird. Your brother-in-law, whose calls you've been avoiding all day, shows up in the middle of the night at your house and you have no questions? Okay. Peter, understandably, wanted to find Beata as soon as he got there. First of all, I start looking for Beata.

And first thing, where is Beata? I cannot say that he told me that he was on the couch, but on the couch I thought first that it was Beata. So I tried to touch her, but it was Kajo. And I asked him, where is your mother? He said that he sleeps in his room.

So I went to the Maya room because I slept the last time, it was full of packages. And I went to his room, basically she was not there because I was driving and I get up usually at 4 a.m. and I did not sleep. So I was chewed up. So basically I followed up immediately and basically every morning what happened is I checked the security alarm and I was looking for Baird.

While Kaya was there I realized that I thought that maybe she was in his jack sleeping bedrooms. I opened the door. The door was actually open. The door was open. And I looked at him and only one thing or one body was there. One person.

One of my questions after I read the initial report about this night was where Peter thought Beata was when he arrived at the house. Because Kyle had just told him that she was in his room, but then Peter checked and she wasn't there and she wasn't in Maya's room either. From what he says here, it sounds like he assumed that Beata was in Jack's room.

And given the context that Peter wasn't necessarily a welcome guest and it was the middle of the night, I can see where he maybe just decided to look for her in the morning. But when he saw that she wasn't in Jack's room, he started to get worried. And just a heads up, this next piece is difficult to listen to. So I start basically looking, you know, and I had, I brought from my car cooler, which I had the orange and two apple, just basically I took for the trips. And I was handling going, they had a second refrigerator. Okay.

second refrigerator. And I think this is when I saw her, it was second times I went there because what it is,

When I went to the garage for the second time, I realized what was going on. Basically, a Halloween decoration was hanging for me. First of all, I thought they were trying to entertain the kids, but I tried to push it, because it was a hard body. And I realized it was the injections that people get. And I started screaming and I touched her. She was cold.

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Did you know that I have a new book coming out? True Story. And unlike my previous books, this one actually is a true story. The Mother Next Door, Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy, which I co-authored with friend of the show, Detective Mike Weber, chronicles three of his most harrowing and impactful cases—

Longtime listeners of the show will have some familiarity with these cases, but I promise you will learn so much more about them, and you'll also just learn so much more about Detective Mike's journey in this arena and also mine. Dr. Mark Feldman, another friend of the show and an esteemed expert in all things Munchausen by proxy, read an early copy, and this is what he had to say about it.

A truly vital, groundbreaking, and riveting contribution to the true crime literature on child abuse. Over the past four decades, I have read just about everything dealing with medical deception, including Munchausen by proxy abuse, and can easily affirm that this immensely readable book is the most important literary work since Professor Rory Meadow coined the Munchausen by proxy term 50 years ago.

And if you don't think that that endorsement from that particular man made me cry, you would be wrong. So the book comes out on February 4th of next year. And now I know what you're thinking. Andrea, why are you talking to me about this right now? February is approximately 100 years from now. We have to do a whole election and whatever else before then.

And I hear you, but I'm telling you this now because as you may know, if you have any other authors in your life, pre-orders are vital to a book's success and will really affect how our publisher positions and supports the book's launch. So if you think you are going to buy this book, doing so now will really help us out. It's available for pre-order in all formats wherever books are sold, and you can find it at a link in the show notes. I hope you will love it, and I appreciate your support.

The picture of the relationship between Jack and Beata looks very different in Peter's version than in Jack's. And I realized that Jack was absolutely, actually, they didn't care about her. Jack didn't give her, like, New Year wishes. I was very surprised that Jack brought the gun to home.

Okay, because that if he promised my older sister the gun actually I don't know what it is even true and honestly, sir I don't know base what it is because I was I asked after I asked with geography can help me that this is true I give you $10,000 you give her divorce paper, you know for entire day if you are calling it all in time She not responding. So what is the reason for this?

So while this is all going on, Peter and Beata's older sister, Elizabeth, is also on her way into town. And though we didn't hear from her during the trial, she also gave a deposition, which corroborated much of what Peter said in his. Basically, that her sister was very distressed because Jack had served her divorce papers and that the relationship had been devolving for months. It seemed that at one point, Jack even threatened to leave with Kyle. Here is Peter describing that in his deposition.

What was your understanding of the marital relationship between Jack Kowalski and Beata Kowalski around the end of 2016 and early 2017? Sir, honestly for this I am not really competent to talk about it because I try to stay out of marital problems. I can say that I was shocked

I was surprised that a day or night before the judge wanted to see Kyle at the court, he act basically lying me and basically he didn't have authority. He removed the Kyle from home. I don't know whether it would be good to word kidnap Kyle, but he didn't have authority without the act of remove the Kyle. He took a suitcase and I realized that was basically the end of the marriage.

This part of the deposition is a little bit tough to decipher, but Peter goes on to describe this series of events where Jack disappeared for a time with Kyle. And this was during the time that Maya was sheltered at Johns Hopkins All Children's, and they had a dependency court hearing coming up. Then someone noticed that Jack had taken a packed suitcase. No, I wasn't just buying shoes, okay. But I had no clue what are the suitcases for.

It was later that I came and I tried to figure out from Beata what he was doing. And also Jack told me that he is going to the store to buy shoes for Kyle. Well, I was kind of shocked, but Beata started crying. Well, I will get back to you soon. So I tried to find out where is Jack. So I text her daughter. Jack has a second daughter in Wisconsin.

And I couldn't answer, where's Jack? So Beata stopped calling. And basically we look, me on Beata, Beata on me. Tomorrow we're all going to go to judge, why? And what judge is going to be your reaction if it's not Kyle? When Peter and Beata can't get a hold of Jack, they start panicking, especially given the fact that they're all supposed to be in court the next day. Look, I was there. Beata called.

call his Bravo, I believe. I don't know the details because this would be her phone. And we couldn't find. So basically, the data was hard-broken. And I understood this was beginning, the end of the marriage. And at the time, sir, I went to the every, like, a light controller. And actually, I turned off all unnecessary light. But it was not to the point, like, when I came in the, you know, and I found dark house with the, you know,

Because Beata was the parent being investigated for abuse, there had been some talk of her possibly needing to move out of the house in order for Maya to be released from Johns Hopkins back into Jack's custody.

Peter wanted to reassure her that if that happened, he would help her pay for somewhere to live. And the family had evidently scraped together everything they could so that Beata would have what she needed. But this was all a cold comfort to his sister, who, it seemed, was watching her life fall down around her. So to ease this, to help the judge, in case the judge would ask, I've already had pre-approved a mortgage, quarter of a mil, for condoning for Beata. And Beata started crying.

I pull out the paperwork that was basically, "Beata, you don't believe it? I brought it here. It's a quarter of a million dollars." I said, "Beata, let's get out of the house." I told her like two days ago. Beata said, "This is my house. I don't want to go from this house." I said, "Well, if you don't believe me,

Things had obviously become increasingly strained between the two families throughout the investigation into Beata. And immediately following her death, they completely fell apart.

Peter became understandably emotional during this part of the deposition, and because it was a bit hard to understand him, the translator took over to describe what went down in the immediate aftermath of Beata's death. And later on, after Beata's death, in time of two hours, my older sister, Ozbieta, who came in, we wanted to ask Jack about that document. Jack took Kyle out of the house,

And later, a few minutes later, his brother Robin came, the one who was with Jack in court. He came with his wife or girlfriend. I don't know what relationship they have. That woman that came with Robin, the brother, Jack's brother, he pulled harshly pillow from underneath my sister's head. And he told us to get out of the house.

I thought they were joking. Elizabeth, Peter and Bianna's older sister, corroborated these events in her deposition, saying that Robert's wife, or potentially his girlfriend, it's unclear, actually yanked the pillow out from under her head and demanded that they leave the house. And things escalated from there. Mr. Zerowski, why did you call the police while you were staying at the Kowalski's house?

Practically felt like I belonged there, that was my place. I had all the security codes and I never really had to ask if I could come or not. My sister always allowed me to come. What police agency did you call and why did you call them?

It was hard for me to believe that Jack was kicking us out of the house, that he told us to get out. It was hard to believe. Why was that hard to believe? Because we were helping Jack financially and that documents that he was supposed to sign were for three quarters of a million of dollars. Why was Mr. Kowalski going to sign a document for three quarters of a million dollars?

That was after Jack took Kyle out of the house and when Beata said that she doesn't want any more financial gifts from us and that she asked Jack to pay all the money back. Peter brings up money numerous times in his deposition, and it's unclear to me what role this played in how all of this unfolded. Now, obviously, this was probably one of the worst days of Jack Kowalski's life, because

But this seems like utterly bizarre behavior to kick your wife's grieving siblings out of your house hours after her death. During his cross, Gregory Anderson, lead attorney for Jack Kowalski, puts a couple of theories to Peter about why this behavior might have happened. Could it maybe have been that Jack just wanted to be alone to grieve his loss? But Peter's just not really having it. And furthermore, this whole thing seems fishy to him.

I found my sister, which was very disturbing, and I had several questions and doubts to the investigators. And also, I had questions to the letter, this is from the examiner. Understood. And what were your suspicions? So, sir, first of all, who turned off the light at home upon my arrival?

Why Jack was at home with the car with the light being turned off? Why Jack was at home with the security system disarmed? Second group of questions was, I found my sister. She had attached medical device.

It was not surprising that she had because in her car, in the trunk, she had a stack of it because she was the infusion nurse. And after the examiner was sending a letter that in my sister's body there was no chemical, no alcohol, the letter, I think you forwarded to me as well, I started questions.

So what it is? Were it examiner error or something else? We'll get to your questions about your suspicions later, but is it fair to say that you had questions about whether Jack Kowalski was involved in your sister's passing? So everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

And as I said, Jack came to me with his Bravo and they admitted circuit breakers were off. And it was strange because Jack is very particular on maintaining the house. He is a perfecto. And so why he stay at home without light? The circuit breaker was basically in the garage where I find my sister.

Just to explain what Peter is saying here, he had questions about the medical examiner's report on his sister's death, which he followed up with him about in a series of letters, which I will link to in the show notes. And he couldn't make sense of why the circuit breaker was off when he arrived at the house. And this stuck out to him because the breaker was right near where he discovered his sister's body. Peter also appears to have some questions about possible financial motivations.

Why did you contact her employer at CVS Quorum? I contacted her employer. I tried to find details about my sister's life policy and what happened. What did you learn upon contacting Beata Kowalski's employer at CVS Quorum after her passing?

I don't recall the details, but I might recall that she might have had additional health insurance that her husband was basically entitled to collect. So if I'm understanding you correctly, there was a life insurance policy that Mr. Kowalski would collect in the event of her passing?

Yes, sir. For sure, just to be correct. My sister, she had personal life insurance, which might be multiple what she would get from an employer. And it appears that Peter looked into hiring a lawyer to look into the circumstances around Beata's death. I tried to collect as much information and contact from my potential attorney in case I will go to, in case I have to decide to hire a criminal lawyer.

Why did you think you might have to hire a criminal lawyer? As I said, first of all, who turned off the lights? Why Jack stayed with child at home with the dysfunctional security system? The security system was dysfunctional from outside, so I could not enter the house. Who attached the device, the medical device with the fluid in my, well, let's assume my sister want to take her own life, but

In my sister's body, according to the medical examiner, there was no alcohol,

not any chemical, but this is not all. Actually, I appreciate you, Tony, your letter information. I was eliminated because the reason that triggered my flight that night to Florida was that Jack called my sister, Elizabeth, and he was basically complaining that the other was drunk. Let's assume, of course, we have to believe the chief because Jack was the chief. He was the best training chief at Illinois. So let's assume we don't have any information

doubt that Mr. Kowalski would have said that my sister was lying, or he was lying. So let's assume my sister was drunk and he was carrying a weapon. Well, according to the medical examiner's term, in my sister's body was no alcohol. So how Mr. Kowalski finds the statement that my sister was drunk carrying the weapon?

It's a little unclear to me what Peter is questioning here, as, though I don't know the exact science, it seems to me that Beata could have been drunk more than 24 hours before her death, and that it wouldn't necessarily have shown up in the medical examiner's report. But what Peter brings up next is less easily accounted for. And this entire event, so, could be recorded on the video, could be available on video. What do you mean this whole event could be on video?

The house is packed with the security camera and actually I want to say thank you to the investigator because I was illuminated. The investigator asked if there in the garage were cameras. There were cameras, but of course there was no power. But before the power was turned off, all the events should be recorded.

Also, the security system, which was part of the American, the AADT company, which I talked to them as well, it has a backup. So basically, in case of a hurricane in Venice, there was a backup for a few hours. And in fact, when I woke up early morning, there was a red light on the panel. But actually, the system was disarmed. So the system was power. Even the breaker was off.

And basically the ADT will not disclose any details until they're going to get requests. And also just for information of going, Mr. Kowalski canceled the contact with the company. I don't know how much is available right now, but based on my discussion with the technicians, it is possibly that's going to be recorded in advance that someone entered the garage and after this the light went off.

It's possible. I don't want to speculate. That's funny. If I'm understanding you correctly, you had some suspicions that there might have been video of what happened in the garage to your sister in January of 2017? Form of judgment. That's correct, sir. And why did you come to conclude that there might have been video?

I spoke with the technicians and ADT, and the technicians provided me that it depended on options. And in the garage, actually, thanks to the detective at the time, a detective was asked about the video from camera, and Jack said it was not. Of course, it was not because no power. So I guess what I'm asking is, is there video of what happened in the garage or not?

So, basically, Peter arrived at the house in the middle of the night and all of the lights were off, which was, according to him, highly unusual. And the circuit breaker was cut. The ADT security system previously in place, which included cameras in the garage where Beata's death took place, had been canceled by Jack.

Like so much of this case, most of this new information just leaves me with more questions. What's clear is that Peter is not convinced that Beata's death was a suicide. He mentioned speaking to several local lawyers for help in his deposition, as well as visiting with Dr. Hanna, one of the doctors who'd been treating Maya Kowalski, in what appears to have been an attempt to get some insights into his sister's state of mind before her death.

Throughout the fall of 2017, Peter sent a pretty stunning series of letters to the medical examiner's office and the state's attorney about his suspicions that something else was going on here. Interestingly,

In addition to his questions about Beata's death, he also claims that Jack was lying about how bad Maya's condition was in the hospital at the time of Beata's death. He says that Jack claimed Maya couldn't roll over or use the toilet on her own and that she was covered in wounds. These would be the skin lesions that she supposedly had because of her CRPS, which, just as a reminder, multiple doctors testified in court that these, quote, lesions appeared to be scratches.

Peter also said, correctly, that Dr. Hanna had evaluated Maya at this time and did not document any of these changes, and that furthermore, Peter and his sister Elizabeth saw Maya the day after Beata died and they did not notice any, quote, wounds. He also indicates that he believes the suicide note could have been fabricated as Kyle, Beata's younger child, had demonstrated to both him and the police that he knew the password to Beata's phone.

He also recounts all of the strange circumstances around the death. The circuit breaker being cut, the windows of the garage where Beata's body was found being covered in plastic, and Jack canceling the security system contract that would have got this whole thing on video. He also makes a mention that Jack was involved in his former job in a, quote, sex for money case.

So just a note that Jack was involved in a wrongful termination suit with his previous employer, but I don't know what the sex for money reference is about here. This appears to be about something different, and I couldn't find any additional information on it. Look, it is plausible that Peter is grasping at straws here, trying to make sense of what feels like a senseless tragedy.

But the fact remains that the series of events around Beata's death doesn't make any sense. There are definitely pieces missing. What those pieces are, we may never ultimately know. In the end, I don't know if Jack really believed before the investigation that Maya was sick, or if he was in some ways enabling this abuse. And if it's the latter case, what might have motivated him to do that?

But I think we can all take a guess at what's been motivating him ever since Beata's death. Namely, many millions of dollars and a hugely sympathetic portrayal as a heroic father to millions of viewers. We may never know the whole truth about this case, but after spending many months digging through the evidence, I don't think Jack Kowalski is the hero he'd like you to believe him to be. Not even close. Next week on Nobody Should Believe Me.

You know, for years, mandatory reporters operated under the assumption that if they participated in the process, that they would have immunity for their participation. And now there's a lot of open questions.

Mandatory reporters are wrestling with the question that if I have a reasonable suspicion of abuse and neglect, and I call in that reasonable suspicion, what if I'm wrong? Can I be sued for that? Can my name be in the paper? Can I be the subject of the intimidation and harassment that some of my clients were? And am I exposing my hospital, whose mission is to provide for the sickest and the most vulnerable in the community, to wiping out their assets and destroying that mission?

This episode was written and produced by me, Andrea Dunlop. Our sound engineering and mixing was provided by Andrew Kindred. Thanks to Nola Karmouche for additional support and also to Cadence 3 where this episode was recorded. I'm Victoria Cash and I want to invite you to a place called Lucky Land where you can play over 100 social casino style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.

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