murder confession – Daniel Wozniak Is My Friend?

Is He Guilty?

Whenever I write about Daniel Wozniak, I make sure to use terms such as alleged or accused or suspected as I talk about him being a possible murderer.

I believe in all the “a person is innocent until proven guilty” business we talk about in the United States.

We can’t forget that Daniel hasn’t been tried yet.

I feel kind of bad for Daniel when he’s referred to as a “brutal killer” in the headlines, but he tells me he’s used to it.

He actually did plead “not guilty” at his arraignment. He is in jail awaiting trial, not serving a sentence. Technically, he could have been awarded bail. There are other people who are facing charges for this same crime, and they are out on bail.

Why didn’t Daniel Wozniak get bail? Well, because he confessed.

Yes, I know. That doesn’t look good for my friend.

Does The Confession Guarantee He’s Guilty?

Here is the thing about confessions: they can’t always be trusted. Sometimes, they are coerced.

Let’s play devil’s advocate (no pun intended) here for a minute.

Perhaps there are some reasons why Daniel’s confession could be taken with a grain of salt:

No lawyer present!
The police threaten the woman he loves with a long prison term if someone else doesn’t take the blame.
He wants to protect members of his family.
No lawyer present!
It takes five different versions of said “confession” before the police think it’s plausible enough to go along with whatever evidence they have.
He is very drunk when he is questioned by the police because he was arrested at the end of his bachelor party.
He is young and naive (only 26 at the time) and believes in the system.
He is young and cocky and believes he is smarter than everyone else (Sorry Daniel, I have to call it like I see it).
Oh and did I mention; NO LAWYER PRESENT!

I’m not willing to completely accept the word of the police, or to call my friend a murderer, unless he confesses to me himself.

Which he hasn’t. In fact, he’s hinted that the real story is quite different from the one the authorities are telling.

Do I think he is innocent?

Hmmm… No, he’s probably not completely innocent of this crime.

Do I believe that he managed to…

Lure a 26 year old combat veteran to a public theatre on a joint forces training base in Los Alamitos, California on Saturday afternoon.
Murder the man by shooting him twice, then leave his body hidden in the building.
Perform that night as the lead in a sold-out musical with his supposedly unsuspecting fiancé.
Return home with his fiancé after the show.
Use the murdered man’s cell phone to impersonate him in a series of texts to a young woman who is friends with the man.
Convince her to come to the murdered man’s apartment that night (which is in the same complex where Daniel lives with his fiancé).
Sneak out of his own apartment, unbeknownst to his fiancée, and go to the murdered man’s apartment to meet that young woman.
Shoot her twice in the head.
Stage her body to look as though she had actually been raped and murdered by the man who lives in that apartment. The man who is actually dead in a theatre about twenty miles away.
Sneak back into his own apartment and have a good night’s sleep with his fiancé curled up next to him (with no sign that anything out of the ordinary had taken place).
Wake up on Sunday, acquire some sharp cutting tools (I’ve read a couple differing statements about exactly what tools and where they were acquired), manage to ditch the fiancé again, and go back to the to the training base.
Get the tools into the theatre building in order to decapitate the murdered man and cut off his arm and hand.
Sneak presumably blood covered tools and body parts out of the building in the middle of the day.
Dispose of the body parts in various areas of a nearby popular nature reserve on a Sunday afternoon.
At some point, return home to extremely patient fiancé.
On Sunday night, perform as the lead in a sold-out musical with his fiancé.

I’m not quite sure if Daniel is alleged to have disposed of the body parts in the afternoon or at a later time. However, if he still had them when he returned home, then he managed to hide them from his fiancé Rachel until he was able to get rid of them.

“Just ignore those body parts in the trunk of the car, honey.”

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m in no way belittling what happened to these victims and their families. The part of this crime that can’t be debated is that Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi are dead.

Do I Think He’s Guilty?

I’m just not positive that my friend, Daniel Wozniak, is the person who killed them.

I’m not positive he didn’t either.

But doesn’t this all seem a little implausible…?

Let me know what you think—leave a comment!

Who wants to write about an accused murderer? I do!

(Post 7)

Pat asked me again why I wrote that first letter. I felt it was fair to let him know I want to write about him. I don’t understand why it mattered to me, except that he’d asked me to be honest.

So here’s what I said (and it was all true):

I don’t have one simple answer for that. I definitely have a strong curiosity about you. I have since you were arrested.

I’ve always had an interest in crime and criminal acts. I don’t mean for that to sound ghoulish or morbid. I just want to figure out what makes a person tick. The people who do the things most outside of society’s norm are the ones who fascinate me the most.

You have to admit that upon first hearing about the crimes for which you’ve been accused, most people will immediately assume you are a monster.

However, that is such a simplified response. The man I met four years ago did not appear to be a monster, and these well written and thoughtful letters you’ve sent me have only made me even more aware of your humanity.

When you were arrested, I was immediately creatively drawn to your story. I felt that there was so much to explore about you and your life. I wanted to write about you or write something inspired by you. I really wanted to understand you…

Who is this man accused of such heinous acts and how is he the same creative, funny and seemingly kind person who is writing to me about helping a fellow inmate get his GED?

Who was he before and how in the world did he get here?

How do you feel about me or anyone wanting to tell your story?

I was super nervous Pat would just stop writing me all together. He is facing double-murder charges after all. Maybe he’s not interested in making friends with someone who wants to “tell all.”I just felt like I had to be upfront. At least “up-fronty.”

When it comes to this blog, I’m taking a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach. Pat hasn’t asked me if I’ve written anything yet, and I haven’t volunteered the information.It’s not like he has Internet access anyway.

So far, I haven’t posted anything I wouldn’t want him to read. I’m not painting him in a bad light. I’m just being honest.OK, the description of the crime doesn’t make him look good, but I’m just saying he’s accused. Anything I wrote could be found with a basic Internet search.

I did say in the first post that I think he’s guilty.

I do.

Guilty of what precisely, though… I don’t know.

During our last visit, Pat even hinted that he is not completely responsible for this crime.

Then who is?

Then why confess?

I did not ask those questions.Yet.

My Next Letter to Jail: Lots of Questions

February 2015

(Post Five)

It was time to write Pat another letter!

I picked out 3 different pictures of myself to send because my hair color changes a lot. I couldn’t remember what color it was when I met him and I wanted him to recognize me.

I told Pat how I thought it was cool to get mail from an inmate!

I talked about his theories on freedom and incarceration.

“Your life is what you make it and if you philosophically break it down, everyone is confined and limited in some aspect.”

Ok technically he’s right about that…

“I can’t drive-thru Jack in the Box to get a double bacon cheeseburger; yet at the same time, you can’t fly to the moon to get some cheese.”

I think he’s pushing it a little on that one, but I get his point.

I still told him that I wouldn’t trade my freedoms for his.
I CAN drive to Albertsons to get cheese.

I mentioned his crazy neat printing. I asked if it was always that nice. He said his penmanship had been pretty good, but he’s improved it over the past 4 years.

He’d asked me why I wrote to him in the first place…

I told him it was because I found him interesting (not a lie… I wasn’t quite ready to tell him that I considered him a writing topic.)

I told him that I’d talked about him to some of my friends and that we are all impressed with his general attitude about his life, trying to help others and making the most of his situation behind bars.

I rambled on about Orange is the New Black again.

My second letter was a bit longer than my first. I felt more comfortable this time. Since he’d written me back so quickly, I knew for sure that he wanted to correspond with me. I mean yeah, I probably could have figured that considering his situation, he’d be grateful for anything to pass time (he is), but I wasn’t sure.

In Pat’s first letter to me, he’d said “If there’s anything you may want to know about me… Don’t be shy.”

Ummm yeah, I want to know stuff about you!

Did you kill those two people??

Did you cut off that man’s head???

I didn’t ask those questions…

Not yet, anyway. After all, I didn’t expect him to send me a written confession.

Actually, I wonder if the police do have a written confession from him. Everything I’ve read said he confessed to both murders when he was first brought in to be questioned about the Vet’s ATM card.

The police claimed he had been Mirandized (told legal rights; ie: the “you have the right to remain silent” speech) before he confessed. I just don’t know if they have actual proof of his confession or not.

If it’s not on paper and it wasn’t recorded, it seems kind of challenging to prove.

First Questions For Pat

The rest of my letter had a lot of questions (I didn’t number them in the letter though):

So what drug were you using? I’m assuming your financial problems were probably related to your addiction as well? How was it in prison when you had to go cold turkey?
Do you like your lawyer? I’m not going to ask you anything about the actual case. I know you can’t talk about that. I’m just curious if you are happy with the lawyer that you been given.
What else do you do with your time?
You mentioned trying to get reading supplies. Is the selection available pretty dismal?
Have you ever felt like you weren’t safe in there?
You mentioned inmates and their quest to find God. Are you religious?
Do you get a lot of visitors?

Oh yeah, that’s right… I was putting out feelers to see if I could visit him.

I have, by the way.

Five times so far!

Why Did I Write an Accused Murder?

February 2015

(Post Three)

So. Why did I write Pat in the first place?

And why did I wait 4 years to do it?

My family members have asked these questions. My friends have asked these questions. The guards at the jail where I visit Pat have asked these questions.

Why I Wrote An Alleged Double Murderer

The first reason: This! What I am doing right now: writing.

I won’t deny it: this guy is FASCINATING!

I wanted to know more. I wanted to understand. It’s obvious that there is one hell of a story here, and I wanted to write about Pat. What I’d write was still beyond me, but I wanted to write.

I decided the best way to get this going was to write him a letter.

I didn’t know how to send a letter to someone in jail, but I figured there was some type of protocol.

It took a little searching, but I found out Pat’s birthday (he’s about to turn 31), his full name, his arrest date and his booking number. The booking number is most important. You need to put it on the mail you send, and you need to give it to the guards when you visit.
During this Internet searching, I discovered Pat’s trial still hadn’t happened! I occasionally wondered why I never heard any news or gossip about him. I had no idea he’d been sitting in jail… waiting… all this time.

Right now, he’s in a sort of holding location where most of his fellow inmates will be in and out in a couple of months. They will either finish their trials and be moved to a prison to serve out their stay, or they are only in jail for a couple of months for some relatively innocuous crime (drug possession or something like that).

Yes, this means I can actually go to Pat’s trial!

This brings us to my second reason for starting this relationship.

I love crime shows!

I don’t mean CSI type dramas. I’m an ID Addict.

Investigation Discovery is a cable channel that shows non-stop true crime shows like Dateline.

I’m a huge fan of Dateline. I also love Homicide Hunter, Murder Next Door, A Crime to Remember, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, Most Evil, 20/20 (when it’s a crime episode and not some boring “my neighbor from Hell” story), Murder Book, On the Case with Paula Zahn… etc. etc. If a show has the words “Evil,” “Murder” or “Homicide” in the title, it’s on my TiVo list.

The contents of my bookshelf include The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, Welcome to Hell: Writings and Letters from Death Row, Helter Skelter, Last Meals (yup, just lists of final meals of inmates before being executed) and many worn out paperbacks about Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), Zodiac, BTK, Jeffrey Dahmer… well, you get the picture.

So, I have this (possibly unhealthy) obsession with crimes and killers, and BAM: here is a possible killer who I’ve actually met!!

I’m super fascinated with what makes a person confess to a crime they didn’t commit. I’m in no way saying that this is the case with Pat, but let’s keep an open mind here, people. If any of you are familiar with the case of The West Memphis Three, then you know sometimes people really do confess to doing some pretty horrific stuff, even when they didn’t do it.

Just sayin’.

Anyway, I wrote a letter to Pat.

Keep in mind that we had only met briefly before his arrest; I wasn’t exactly writing to an old friend. I was nervous about it, too. I had no idea if he would remember me or write me back, and if he didn’t write me back… how in the world would I ever be able to write about him?

Also, what do you say to someone who is in jail and being accused of some seriously heinous stuff (double murder and dismemberment of one of the victims)?

Well, I talked about how crappy the dressing rooms had been at our theatre. I also mentioned that he’d been a huge topic of conversation around the place after he was arrested. I asked some questions about the truthfulness of Orange is the New Black (LOVE that show and wouldn’t care if it was all lies… but it’s not).

It wasn’t a long letter. Only 3 paragraphs.

He replied to me right away!

The Crime

January 2015

(Post Two)

I’ve read everything I can find on this case. I’m not asking Pat for any specifics. Yet.

My understanding is that the Sheriffs only wanted to question Pat about a missing man and his ATM card. And then Pat supposedly confessed immediately…

…to murder.

The Story

Pat and his fiancee lived in an apartment complex two floors below a 26 year old Army combat soldier.

The Vet (as I’ll refer to him) had recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan and had started attending a local college. Word around the complex was that The Vet had about 50,000 dollars savings in the bank and the police say that Pat wanted that money.

They also say Pat was in major debt… that Pat was about to be evicted from his apartment… that Pat was getting married in the middle of a terrible financial situation…

Money was motive for murder.

The Vet and his parents were close. He was their only child. When their son didn’t come over as expected that morning and couldn’t be reached on the phone, the worried dad went to his son’s apartment to check on him.

Inside the bedroom, he found the partially clad body of a young woman.

She was a friend of his son’s. She had been shot.

She had writing scrawled on her. The words indicated she’d been killed because of some kind of romantic relationship that had gone terribly wrong.

With no sign of his missing son, The Vet’s dad called the police.

I want to point out that everything I know about this case so far is from what I’ve read and seen on TV. None of my information is from Pat. We were not yet in that point of our relationship.

I’m not sure what exactly was written on the body of the murdered girl. My understanding is that a black marker was used to write on her body or her clothing. It supposedly said something like “now you can fucking have her…”

I will be very interested in finding out the specifics when Pat goes to trial
(likely this February).

Tutor Girl

The murdered woman was a 23 year old; The Vet’s fellow student and his tutor. Even though she had a boyfriend (A Marine combat engineer stationed in Japan),
the police immediately suspected that the relationship between The Vet and Tutor Girl was actually romantic. A logical conclusion. It appeared she’d been sexually assaulted and The Vet was nowhere to be found.

The dad protested profusely that his son would never have hurt Tutor Girl, but evidence showed otherwise. The previous evening, she was at dinner with her brother when she received texts from The Vet. He was depressed. He really wanted a “girl to talk to.” Tutor Girl was never one to abandon a friend in need, so she agreed to drop by his apartment later that night. Her brother got a text around midnight letting him know she’d arrived safely to The Vet’s apartment.

Now she had been found dead in the apartment of that man who had “lured” her to his home… and he was missing.

The police tracked the missing man’s activity through credit card and bank activity. The Vet’s ATM card led them to a 17 year old kid who had been taking out money. The 17 year old immediately told the police that he’d been given the card and asked to take out the money by… Pat.

Now, obviously, the police wanted to how Pat came into possession of a missing man’s ATM card – especially when that man was wanted in questioning to a murdered girl found in his apartment. This is when they tracked Pat down at that restaurant. It turns out that Pat didn’t realize that the police only wanted to question him about the ATM card. He thought they knew much much more.

You see, The Vet wasn’t on the lam.

He was dead.

The Confession

According to the police, Pat confessed to murdering them both.

The police say that Pat told them he’d asked The Vet to help him move some furniture at a local theatre building (not my theatre – a much larger one that was not operating at the time, on a Joint Forces training base) on a Friday afternoon in May.

In the attic of the building, Pat allegedly shot The Vet once (he thought he’d gotten an electric shock) and then shot him a second time in the head. Pat left the body, but took The Vet’s wallet and cell phone. He had a show to do that night. He was the lead in the musical at our theatre, and the show was sold out.

When Tutor Girl was receiving texts from her friend’s cell phone, The Vet was already dead. According to the confession, Tutor Girl was greeted by Pat when she arrived at The Vet’s apartment. She knew Pat casually. They were Facebook friends.

He invited her in and shot her in the head.

Wow, right? Hold on… it gets worse.

Pat decapitated The Vet’s body. He also cut off the man’s left arm and right hand.

He left the torso and legs at the theatre and hid the head, arm, and hand in a nearby park.

After that… he had another performance.

No one at our theatre had any idea that the man singing on stage had just murdered two people… according to police.

When I use “allegedly” and “supposedly” to discuss Pat’s crime and confession, I do this because his trial hasn’t happened. He is innocent until proven guilty.

I’m pretty sure Pat is guilty. He’s also my friend.