Missing Man: William Paul Smolinski -- CT -- 08/24/2004

[Linda]

From the family:

"Today will be two years since that fateful day Billy was taken from us.  We will be having an on-line Candle Light Vigil this year.  Our family is asking you to please take a few minutes today to remember Billy.  

Please visit his web site:  
http://www.justice4billy.com/    

While visiting his web site please say a prayer and feel free to sign his guestbook.  For those of us that were fortunate to have known Billy, please think of a fond memory that you shared with him.
 
Thanks to everyone,

Bill, Jan, Paula &                               Smolinski Family"

[Linda]

William Smolinski will be featured on the TV program "Missing".

http://www.usamissing.com

The show will air the week of August 28, 2006, and in most areas, is shown on the following weekend.

Please check out which station airs the program in your area by visiting the following link.

http://www.usamissing.com/findus.htm

Then check out the station's site (provided in the above link) for the exact day and time the show airs.

All the following adults and children will be featured on this episode.

Joanna Rogers, Heather Bennett, Jason Smith, La-Teasha Brooks, Cermen Toney, Diane Aviles Colon, Tommy Adkins, Estela Salgado*, Elizabeth Mondelli, Neil Eddleman, Kristina Bishop, Chelsea Morales, Gerardo Morales, Jason Jolkowski, Angela Ramsey, Danielle Nottingham, Karen Giron Molina, William Smolinski Jr., Ana Leyva, Ashley Martinez, Jerry Tang, Cory White, Brittney Beers, Iumila Vasquez, Tracey Tetso.

*Recently recovered


http://www.usamissing.com/index_files/Page733.htm

[Linda]

Newsday.com: News, Entertainment and Sports

Sunday, October 01, 2006

  FBI JOINS CASE


FBI steps in to help in case of missing man
October 1, 2006, 2:58 PM EDT

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) _ The FBI has agreed to help Waterbury police in the case of a man who vanished more than two years ago. Billy Smolinski was 31 years old when he disappeared in August 2004 after asking a neighbor to look after his dog while he took a three-day trip to look at a car.


City police say their investigation has hit a dead end and hope federal authorities can help solve the mystery. "We feel we did all we can do from the local perspective," Police Superintendent Neil O'Leary said. "The case was investigated as thoroughly as it could be." Waterbury police asked for the FBI's help in August, requesting a joint local-federal investigation.

Please continue to read at this link:
blog.myspace.com/billysmolinski

[Linda]

Sunday, October 01, 2006

  WATERBURY PD TO PRODUCE SMOLINSKI MISSING FILE

FOI COMMISSION COMPELS WATERBURY PD TO PRODUCE SMOLINSKI MISSING

PERSON LOVE TRIANGLE FILE

Department Says It Is Reaching Out To the FBI For Help

By ANDY THIBAULT

The Cool Justice Report
The Cool Justice Report

Sept. 29, 2006


EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is available for reprint or citation courtesy of The Cool Justice

Report, The Cool Justice Report

The state Freedom of Information Commission has compelled the Waterbury Police Department to hand-deliver its file on the Billy Smolinski case to the FOI office in Hartford for an in-camera review.

During a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 26, Waterbury Police legal advisor Gary Roosa said he could deliver the file and an index within one week.

Smolinski, 33, has been missing for more than two years. Foul play is suspected. Smolinski's family complained police did not initially take them seriously and failed to perform basic investigative tasks in a timely manner. Central to the case is a love triangle involving a politician who recently resigned from office.

The in-camera or secret review by FOI Commission staff would lead to a determination of what records can be released to the public. The Sept. 26 hearing followed a complaint filed Aug. 4, Docket # FIC 2006-389, Andy Thibault v. Chief, Police Department, City of Waterbury. The first formal request was made July 28. It was denied Aug. 4, resulting in the complaint.

Such documents are public records unless police can demonstrate they are taking
substantive action to pursue the case. Police must also show that release of the records
would harm an ongoing investigation.

Waterbury Police Lt. Chris Corbett, testifying at the Sept. 26 hearing, could not cite any
recent investigative activity by his department in the Smolinski matter.

Roosa and Corbett pointed to a letter written by Deputy Police Chief James Nardozzi on
Aug. 4, the same day the FOI complaint was filed. In the letter, written to the agent in charge of the New Haven FBI office, Kimberly Mertz, Nardozzi said the Waterbury PD had "exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us."

"Thus," Nardozzi said, "We are requesting the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in conducting a joint FBI-WPD investigation into the disappearance of Mr.
Smolinski."

Corbett testified that at least one FBI agent has been looking at the file. But, he could not
say whether any interviews had been conducted.

Based on the letter to the FBI, Roosa sought a continuance of the FOI hearing. The request was denied by the hearing officer, Atty. Mary Schwind, after argument that the mere writing of a letter did not constitute an ongoing investigation.

Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an
adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western
Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal
Connecticut Review. Website, http://www.andythibault.com and Blog,
The Cool Justice Report

[Linda]

William Smolinski, Jr. will be featured on the television program "Missing".

Home

The show will air the week of October 2, 2006, and in most areas, is shown on the following weekend.

Please check out whick station airs the program in your area by visiting the following link.

Missing - Links

Then check out the station's site (provided in the above link) for the exact day and time the show airs.

All the following adults and children will be featured on this episode.

Kelli Cox, Ke'Shaun Vanderhorst, Patricia Viola, Chrystle Edmonds, Charles Aaron Smith, Kevin Beights, Terri Slaugenhaupt, Ruth Hoffman, Tyesha Bell, Rachel Ziselman, Ernesto Villarreal, Jacob Miranda, Thalia Miranda, Taylor White, Destanie Trevillion, Jamel Williams, Zulma Flores, Christopher Bacsain, Darsha Robinson, Raed Alfarah, Noah Turner, Rebecca Redick, Claudia Guillen, Brianna Maitland, William Smolinski, Jr.


This Week-Television

[Linda]

Billy is featured on the Cool Justice blog again:

The Cool Justice Report: Smolinski Family Relieved That FBI Is Involved


.......Finally, back in July, the Smolinskis went down to FBI offices in New Haven to give DNA samples. While they were there they left behind long feature articles that had been published in the Waterbury Observer detailing the bizarre circumstances surrounding Billy’s disappearance, and the sluggish investigation by Waterbury detectives. The police work in the case was so sloppy that it was either a bungled investigation, or perhaps there was a connection between Woodbridge and Waterbury.

At the end of the visit the Smolinskis were informed that the articles would be passed along to an agent. The family said they were told that they wouldn’t know if an agent was actively investigating the case or not. They said they were told the FBI likes to work quietly.

Weeks later, on July 28th, Andy Thibault requested information regarding the case from the Waterbury Police Department. His request was denied. But Thibault, an experienced investigative journalist, and a former Freedom of Information (FOI) commissioner, was keen enough to petition for a hearing in Hartford that jammed a spotlight on the efforts of the Waterbury police. The department was forced to release information about the love triangle, or prove that they were conducting an active investigation.......

Please continue to read at the link provided.

[Linda]

From the family:

"Hi Everyone,
 
   On Sunday evening November 19  William (Billy) Smolinski Jr. will be briefly aired on "Without a Trace" approximately somewhere into the middle of the show 10 - 11 PM eastern time on CBS.   William (Billy)  31 years old at time of disappearance has been missing since August 24 2004 last seen in Waterbury, Connecticut.
 
The following morning, Monday, November 20 on CBS "The Early Show" 7 -9AM eastern time there will be an interview taped with Billy's dad,(William) mom,(Janice) and sister (Paula). During the segment there will also be an interview with the FBI.  Please tune in
to view.  If anyone knows anything please call The Office of the FBI New Haven Connecticut 203 777-6311 or newhaven.fbi.gov
 
Please pass this on to all your contacts. Thank you from the Smolinski Family"

[Linda]

Here is a video of Billy's segment on the Missing Show, provided courtesy of Jim Viola:

http://www.patriciaviolamissing.homestead.com/Billy_Smolinski_Jr_on_USA_Missing_Jan_2007.wmv

[Linda]

Relatives of missing adults work to pass laws across nation - Boston.com

Relatives of missing adults work to pass laws across nation
March 25, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. --When Janice Smolinski's 31-year-old son Billy disappeared in 2004, there were no Amber Alerts, no urgent police investigations.

Police made the family wait three days to report the Waterbury man's disappearance because a neighbor believed he had left town voluntarily. They had to organize their own search parties and pressure police to fingerprint Billy's truck, his mother said.

When authorities did take the case, they lost or misplaced the family's DNA samples -- including Billy's razor shavings -- three times, Smolinski said.

Two-and-a-half years later, Billy Smolinski is nowhere to be found and his mother has joined a national grass-roots effort to lobby for more consistent laws for handling missing adult cases.

The group's Campaign for the Missing is lobbying this year in Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, New York, Missouri, Ohio and Indiana.

"Our system isn't working," said Janice Smolinski. "Unfortunately, when adults go missing, they don't really take it seriously."

Of more than 109,000 active records in the National Crime Information Center's Missing Person File as of Dec. 31, 2005, just under half involve adults.

But the National Center for Missing Adults, which handled more than 23,000 reports and helped nearly 25,000 family members in 2005, announced last year that federal budget cuts had forced it to close its Phoenix offices and attempt to relocate to a less expensive space.

Funding was cut to $148,000 last year for the center, which also helped families during Hurricane Katrina.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, in comparison, typically receives more than $35 million a year from the federal government.

Police say they don't have the resources to focus attention on every case, and adults are allowed to disappear voluntarily.

"It's a free country and we've got to remember that," said West Hartford Police Chief James Strillacci, legislative chairman for the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. "We have wanderlust in our blood and people get up and move once in a while."

Contrary to television crime shows, he said, the FBI rarely assists in missing adult cases.

"We cannot do for everybody that they would like us to do," he said. "We can only do what the law and our budgets allow."

The bills proposed by Campaign for the Missing touch on everything from banning cremation of unidentified remains to informing families about the clearinghouses for missing adults and children.

Each would prevent police from refusing to accept missing persons reports in most circumstances. They spell out data police must collect for a missing person, from eye color to blood type. They would also allow police to flag a missing person -- such as someone with medical problems -- as high risk, triggering more immediate action.

The families of missing adults also want police to enter all collected information, including DNA profiles, into applicable federal databases and provide timely case updates to family members.

They also want more publicity for missing adults.

The Amber Alert program, named for a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped and killed, allows law enforcement and television and radio broadcasters to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases.

But for adults, attention focuses largely on the bizarre or unusual, such as runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks, who fled days before her planned 2005 wedding and made up a story about being kidnapped and sexually assaulted to cover the fact that she got cold feet and went to New Mexico.

When Drew Kesse's 24-year-old daughter, Jennifer, didn't show up for work in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 24, 2006, a police officer suggested the attractive blonde financial analysts had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and would return soon. More than a year has passed with no sign of her.

"There is absolutely no evidence. She has truly vanished," he said. "It's heartbreaking."

To drum up attention, the families of the missing have become amateur public relations consultants, creating web sites and organizing public events.

Kesse has flown banners over football games and printed playing cards with Jennifer's picture. Well-wishers have paid for eight billboards and posters in 24 bus shelters.

Kelly Jolkowski, whose Nebraska-based Project Jason created the Campaign for the Missing, has organized charity bike rides and appearances on the Montel Williams Show to generate interest in missing people, including her 19-year-old son Jason, who vanished from the family's Omaha driveway in 2001.

"The only thing you can do is get the story out there," she said. "One of these days you're going to hit the right person."

Though Omaha police did a complete investigation of her son's disappearance, Jolkowski said that's not the norm.

"When you have somebody disappear as an adult rather than a minor, it's an entirely different situation," she said. "There's no federal law that mandates them. Unless the state has passed this legislation, they are not mandated to do anything. They don't even have to take the case, period."

Jolkowski said families have told her of local police not aware of the federal DNA database. She has learned of unidentified bodies cremated or buried in unmarked graves without any DNA samples taken.

"It was a chore to get the police to take Molly's case seriously because she was 23," said Keri Dattilo, referring to her cousin Molly Dattilo, who disappeared July 6, 2004 in Indianapolis.

Keri Dattilo said it took six weeks before an investigation began in earnest.

"They could have tracked down more people in the very beginning with a fresh memory," she said. "I think they need to start taking these cases seriously in the beginning. They need to listen to the families."

New Jersey resident Jim Viola's wife, Patricia, disappeared six years ago, the day before Valentine's Day. He has since learned by trial and error what should be done when someone disappears. He didn't know for more than three years that a DNA profile of his wife could be created with a blood sample from his mother-in-law.

By pushing Campaign for the Missing legislation in his state, he hopes to save others from some of the heartache he's suffered.

"I'm basically trying to get New Jersey residents to write to their senator, to get them to understand that this law is for them," he said

[Linda]

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation -- Relatives of missing adults push for laws requiring police to search for their loved ones

Relatives of missing adults push for laws requiring police to search for their loved ones

HARTFORD, Conn. – When Janice Smolinski's 31-year-old son Billy disappeared in 2004, there were no Amber Alerts, no urgent police investigations.
Police made the family wait three days to report the Waterbury man's disappearance because a neighbor believed he left town voluntarily. The family organized its own search parties and pressured police to fingerprint Billy's truck, his mother says.
 
Two and a half years later, Billy Smolinski is nowhere to be found and his mother has joined a national push for more consistent laws for handling missing-adult cases.
The group's Campaign for the Missing is lobbying this year in Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, New York, Missouri, Ohio and Indiana.

“Our system isn't working,” says Janice Smolinski. “Unfortunately, when adults go missing, they don't really take it seriously.”

Just under half of the more than 109,000 active records in the National Crime Information Center's missing person file as of Dec. 31, 2005, involved adults.

The National Center for Missing Adults, a government-supported organization that handled more than 23,000 reports and helped nearly 25,000 family members in 2005, had its federal funding cut last year to $148,000.

In October, the organization warned it may close its doors if it did not get more funding; it did not return repeated calls recently, and it was not clear whether it was still in operation.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, in comparison, typically receives more than $35 million a year from the federal government.

Police say they do not have the resources to focus attention on every case, particularly because there is nothing in the law to prevent an adult from walking away from his friends and family.

“We cannot do for everybody that they would like us to do,” said West Hartford Police Chief James Strillacci, legislative chairman for the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. “We can only do what the law and our budgets allow.”

Contrary to TV crime shows, he said, the FBI rarely assists in missing adult cases.

Family members said they believe local police need better training and more resources to track down missing adults. The laws proposed by Campaign for the Missing would require police to accept most missing-persons reports and to collect certain information, such as blood type and eye color.

The families also want to require police to enter all collected information, including DNA, into federal databases and to provide updates to family members. They also want to ban the cremation of unidentified remains.

Kelly Jolkowski helped create the Campaign for the Missing after her 19-year-old son Jason vanished from the family's Omaha, Neb., driveway in 2001.

“The only thing you can do is get the story out there,” she says. “One of these days you're going to hit the right person.”

Jolkowski says she has heard horror stories from families whose local police departments did not know of the federal DNA database. She has also learned of unidentified bodies cremated or buried in unmarked graves without any DNA taken.

In Indianapolis, family members say it took six weeks for a formal police investigation into the disappearance of Molly Dattilo, who disappeared in 2004.

“They could have tracked down more people in the very beginning with a fresh memory,” says Dattilo's cousin, Keri Dattilo. “I think they need to start taking these cases seriously in the beginning. They need to listen to the families.”

Dattilo has not been found.

[Linda]

Hearing on plan to change laws about missing adults
 
by News Channel 8's Jodi Latina
Posted Apr. 4, 2007
6:52 AM

(Hartford-WTNH) __ A Waterbury couple wants to change the way police handle adult missing persons cases, and today lawmakers will hold a public hearing on a bill designed to do just that.

The family of Billy Smolinski, a Waterbury man who went missing in 2004, says the measure would save lives or at least help families get answers.

A billboard of the missing Waterbury man was put up on Route 8 last week, three years after he disappeared and only after a group that helps families of missing adults stepped up.

Smolinski asked a neighbor to watch his dog back in 2004. He left his keys, wallet and car, and no one has seen him since.

Smolinski's parents say police made them wait three days to file a missing persons report and there was no Amber Alert. Authorities believed the 31-year old may have left on his own.

The Smolinski's want Connecticut law to include more training for law enforcement in dealing with missing persons, and they want a 48 hour window imposed in which a search would have to begin.

The FBI is now involved in the Smolinski case. This morning's hearing will involve national exposure. Representatives from the group Campaign for the Missing are expected to be here.
Wtnh.com, Connecticut News and Weather - Hearing on plan to change laws about missing adults

[Linda]

The Orange Bulletin - New legislation could help with finding missing adults

New legislation could help with finding missing adults


By: Marilyn Moss, Special to the Bulletin 04/05/2007


The unacknowledged epidemic of missing adults and unidentified remains is "the nation's silent disaster," according to the National Institute of Justice. Although the country has arduously worked to develop protections for missing children, the same cannot be said about efforts expended for missing adults. Yet statistics suggest that the number of missing adults is alarming. Figures available from the National Center for Missing Adults reveal that by the end of 2005, 109,531 people were missing in this country; nearly 47percent of those were 18 years or older.

In general, methods used by law enforcement to investigate the circumstances surrounding missing adults are left to the discretion of the agency, or even the agent. In addition, education about new technologies and new resources is insufficient. The lack of any standardized protocol and the inadequate training of law enforcement agents leaves distraught families of missing people without much recourse.


Connecticut is poised to initiate changes that will aid in the efforts to find missing adults. Vickie Nardello, the state representative from Bethany, has introduced a measure to standardize the methods that law enforcement agencies use when an adult is reported missing. Nardello said, "We do everything for kids, but we really have very little in the state for adults."

Stephen Dargan, the state representative from West Haven, co-sponsored the bill with Nardello. He said, "We really haven't dealt with adults that have gone missing."
Nardello began working to pass legislation after meeting with Janice Smolinski, a Cheshire mother whose 31-year-old son disappeared in 2004. Nardello, herself the mother of a 29-year-old daughter, visited Smolinski at her Cheshire home. Nardello said, "This legislation came about over a cup of tea with Janice Smolinski - mother to mother."

During that visit, Nardello heard the troubling story about Smolinski's missing son, Billy Smolinski. Smolinski's son disappeared from his home in Waterbury 2 1/2 years ago, . Despite the family's concern, the Waterbury Police Department did not take the incident seriously. Smolinski said, "The police figured he was out and about."

By the time the police began any serious investigating, more than 10 days had passed. And the investigation that was conducted was flawed the mother said. At Smolinski's insistence, the police took DNA samples from the family. Smolinski said, "The police took our DNA, but they lost or misplaced our DNA three times. And no one knows what happened to the razor shavings they took from Billy's house."

Smolinski continued to urge the police to thoroughly investigate the case, but she became disenfranchised when she learned that none of the collected DNA was ever entered into CODIS or combined DNA index system. CODIS is a national database that compiles DNA evidence for missing persons and unidentified remains. DNA downloaded by law enforcement agencies can be matched against DNA entered elsewhere. This can potentially lead to the whereabouts of the missing person.

Smolinski was appalled that the police were not familiar with or chose not to use CODIS, or, for that matter, other systems used to help locate missing persons. Some of those resources, which are linked nationally, include: NCIC or National Crime Information Center, which compiles details about missing person cases; and IAFIS or the automated fingerprint identification system.

In frustration and despair, Smolinski struck out on her own, attending conferences, making phone calls, talking to other affected families, and trying to raise awareness of the issues surrounding missing adults.

Smolinski is now involved in a national grass roots initative, Campaign for the Missing, (a Project Jason program) which strives for changes in the way missing adult cases are handled. Campaign for the Missing is presently focusing on implementing legislation in a number of states to codify methods for handling missing adults. During Smolinski's Connecticut efforts, she connected with Nardello.

Nardello, after talking with Smolinski, became concerned about the deficiencies in the system. She, along with Dargon, put forth House Bill 5273 to deal with missing adults. The proposal, modeled on New Jersey legislation, outlines specific protocols for handling missing adult cases.

Highlights of the bill include:

* Law enforcement agencies accept reports of missing adults without delay Classify "high risk" cases
* those with health issues or other impairments
* those missing under suspicious conditions
* those missing under unknown conditions
* those missing for more than 30 days
* LEA enter information, including DNA, into appropriate federal databases
* LEA keep families informed
* LEA educate families about national resources for missing adults
* Commissioner of Public Safety distributes education/training for LEA
* Unidentified remains cannot be cremated
* Charge of criminal mischief in the second degree for interference with efforts

This last item seems odd, but an odd thing happened to the Smolinskis. The family, anxious for news about Billy Smolinski and getting little help from the Waterbury police, hung missing person posters in local towns, like Woodbridge.

 
Woodbridge was included because Billy Smolinski had been involved with a town resident, Madeline Gleason. According to the family, Gleason and Smolinski had broken up just days prior to his disappearance because of Gleason's ongoing involvement with another man, also a Woodbridge resident.

When the Smolinskis returned to Woodbridge, they found the posters missing or defaced. Subsequent investigation revealed that Gleason was responsible. Gleason admitted in a police incident report that she had torn down the posters and, according to the report, stated that "she will continue to tear them down if she sees them posted."
The friction between Gleason and the Smolinskis escalated and spun out of control. Eventually, Smolinski found herself under arrest by the Woodbridge police for criminal trespass in the first degree. Those charges were subsequently dismissed, but Smolinski now faces a harassment lawsuit filed by Gleason.

To this day, the Smolinskis continue to hang Billy Smolinski's posters, and those posters continue to be torn down. Janice Smolinski has pleaded for help, saying, "This shameful act cannot go on. I'm just trying to find my son."

Nardello praised Smolinski's efforts, even in the face of such obstacles. Nardello said it was a privilege to work with someone like Smolinski, who pushed for actions to help other families of missing adults. Nardello said, "This won't help Billy, but at least Janice Smolinski worked on an effort so that no other parent would have to go through what she did."

Dargon said, "I know this is important legislation. I'm going to do everything I can to get this passed."

Nardello is optimistic about the bill's passage. She said, "While the Smolinski family has been through a terrible ordeal, their experience can serve as a catalyst for change that will benefit all of Connecticut's families."

The law is presently being reviewed by the Judiciary Committee of the state legislature. A public hearing was scheduled for April 4.

[Linda]

The Orange Bulletin - THE WOODBRIDGE CONNECTION:The trail of a missing Waterbury man
THE WOODBRIDGE CONNECTION:The trail of a missing Waterbury man

By: Marilyn Moss, Special to the Bulletin 04/19/2007

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Billy Smolinski, a Waterbury man missing since August 2004, has received intense scrutiny recently. Presently, the state legislature, prompted by the story of Smolinski's disappearance, is considering a bill to improve methods for handling missing adult cases. In addition, on April 11, the Waterbury Police Department, under orders of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, released its records concerning the investigation of Smolinski's disappearance to the public.
 
In those records, Madeline Gleason and Christian Sorensen, both Woodbridge residents, are mentioned in connection with the investigation.

According to the police records, as of August 2004, Smolinski had been involved in a yearlong relationship with Gleason, a Woodbridge school bus driver for B&B Transportation. During that same period of time, Gleason had also been involved with Sorensen, another Woodbridge school bus driver and a former member of the Board of Selectmen. According to the police reports, Gleason said that Smolinski broke off the relationship during the week preceding his disappearance when he learned about Gleason's relationship with Sorensen.

Gleason last saw Smolinski on Aug. 24 2004, the day he disappeared. On that same day, Sorensen's phone records revealed three calls from Smolinski. According to the police reports, Smolinski left a threatening message on the answering machine, saying, "Chris you better watch your back."

Sorensen, who was interviewed by the Waterbury police, admitted having a relationship with Gleason. Sorensen maintained, however, that he had no personal interaction with Smolinski. Initially, Sorensen denied any trouble with Smolinski, but he subsequently told police that Smolinski was responsible for breaking windows on Sorensen's bus several months earlier.

Almost immediately following Smolinski's disappearance, the Smolinski family began hanging missing person posters of Billy Smolinski in Woodbridge, as well as other surrounding towns. Those posters were torn down repeatedly. Although Gleason denied tearing down posters in a Waterbury police report dated Aug. 5, 2005, Gleason admitted to tearing down the posters in a Woodbridge police report dated Nov. 22 2004. That report states that Gleason said, "... she will continue to tear them down if she sees them posted."

After months of this poster battle, the Woodbridge police arrested Janice Smolinski, the mother of the missing man, for criminal trespass. According to the Woodbridge Police Department spokesman, Sgt. Frank Cappiello, the warrant was an attempt to quiet things down. "We were trying to defuse the situation," he said.

Those charges were subsequently dismissed at trial. However, Janice Smolinski and her daughter, Paula Bell, are facing litigation filed by Gleason and her employer, B&B Transportation. The suit claims that the Smolinskis harassed the plaintiffs.

The suit was filed in August 2006, but the Smolinskis have continued to hang missing person posters. And those posters continue to be torn down.

During the investigation by the Waterbury police, Gleason also told the police that one of Sorensen's friends, whom she refused to identify, had received a call on or about Aug. 29, 2004, from a Hartford payphone.
 According to Gleason's report, the caller said, "Tell Chris to watch his back."

In that same report, Gleason said that she had received a number of hang-up calls from Rhode Island, but she had not saved the phone numbers on her caller ID. Gleason did tell the police that Smolinski "was an outdoorsman and loved to hike in the woods, and he knew how to survive in the woods."

The released police records all revealed that an Oxford man contacted "Crime Stoppers" in June 2006 in response to a segment aired about Billy Smolinski. The Waterbury police subsequently interviewed the individual, who preferred to remain unnamed. According to the police report, this individual said that in October 2004 he was told by a close friend of Shaun Karpiuk, Gleason's son who died in February 2005, that Karpiuk choked Smolinski to death at Gleason's apartment. The body was buried at a construction site in Shelton; the grave site was covered with concrete the following day. "I basically believe that that's what happened. That's why I went to the police," the man said, who had once been an employer of Karpiuk.

Although the Waterbury police drove by the area, no further action was taken, according to the police records.

The investigation was taken over by the FBI in August 2006. The FBI had no comment about the ongoing investigation when contacted on April 13. When asked about the above information concerning Karpiuk, however, a spokeswoman for the FBI, MaryBeth Miklof, said, "We're still receiving information from the Waterbury Police Department."

Despite efforts to contact Gleason and Sorensen, neither of those individuals chose to respond.

[Linda]

Family of missing man hope to see police reports

Posted Apr. 11, 2007
Updated 3:50 PM

(Hartford-WTNH) _ A Waterbury family may finally be allowed to pour over police documents in the investigation of their son's disappearance.

At a Freedom of Information Commission hearing today in Hartford, commissioners voted unanimously to release documents related to the Billy Smolinski case.

A private investigator, hired by the Smolinski family, filed the Freedom of Information request.  He wanted police records surrounding Billy's case opened so he that could see what leads were pursued.

The Waterbury police department has the chance to appeal the commission's decision and does not have to release the documents until the appeal process is over.

The 31-year-old disappeared three and a half years ago.  His parents say their son left behind his car keys, his wallet and his truck.  It is a case that them to this day, because they believe Billy was murdered and until now they have not received any clear answers.    

A highway billboard has been put up just outside Waterbury city limits to generate interest in the Smolinski case.
Wtnh.com, Connecticut News and Weather - Family of missing man hope to see police reports

[Linda]

WATERBURY: Police release file on missing man

Thursday, April 12, 2007

BY BRYNN MANDEL

The state Freedom of Information commission on Wednesday ordered the release of much of the police investigative file in the case of Billy Smolinski Jr., a Waterbury man who disappeared nearly three years ago.

The file included statements from those who had seen Smolinski in the days leading to Aug. 24, 2004, when the then-31-year-old Naugatuck native was last seen. The documents detail leads and tips chased down by Waterbury police, from September 2004 through June of last year. Waterbury police said last August that they had "exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us" and were turning the case over to the FBI.

A FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday the agency is investigating the case, and they continue to receive information from Waterbury police.

She declined to answer any other questions.

Across all 14 of the written reports made public Wednesday, the offense listed was "missing person."


Smolinski's family has long said they believe something bad must have happened to him, that he would not just leave.

Information contained in the documents released Wednesday did nothing to change that belief, said Janice Smolinski, the missing man's mother, as she huddled over the pages alongside her husband, journalists and private investigators.

Later, she reflected, "It was just an emotional day. We really need to sort through it."

A few documents were withheld from the public. It was unclear what they contained.

Witnesses' statements to police weave a tale of a love triangle that entangled Smolinski before his disappearance, a break-up he was upset about, as well as one tip police received that Smolinski may have been murdered.

So far, no arrests have been made and investigators previously have said they were not certain a crime occurred.

A Waterbury police spokesman reserved commenting Wednesday night, other than to say that the city department passed its information to the FBI, and some of that information was being investigated actively by the federal agency.

Andy Thibault, a Litchfield private investigator who writes the Web log about public safety issues called the Cool Justice Report, filed a Freedom of Information complaint seeking the police documents about eight months ago.

Thibault said he hopes to assess the contents in coming days to determine, among other things, the vigor with which police pursued this case.

"At this point, we have more questions than answers," Thibault said.
"The Waterbury Connecticut Republican American Newspaper"