Missing: William Paul Smolinski
Case: Foul Play Missing
Nickname: Bill, Billy
Missing From: New Haven County, Waterbury, CT
Missing Date: August 24, 2004
Race: Caucasian Sex: Male
Age at Time Missing: 31
Height: 71 to 72 in.
Weight: 200 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown; Light Brown; crew cut at time of disappearance.
Eye Color: Blue
Tattoos: Blue “cross” with an orange outline on left shoulder, tattoo of a blue “cross” with the name “Pruitt” in the cross on right forearm.
Scars/Piercings/Unique Marks: Left ear pierced.
Other: Possibly wearing blue jeans and a blue denim shirt; wears size 36 x 32 pants; wears size large or extra large shirts, workboots; wears size 10 1/2 shoes. Small diamond earring worn in left ear, rope style gold chain necklace with a gold “cross” pendant.
Police Agency: New Haven, CT FBI, SA. William Aldenburg (203) 574-6941 (203)238-0505
Case Number: 62D-NH-44785 NamUs MP # 43 Waterbury PD case #04-71025
Circumstance: William was last seen at his residence in the vicinity of the 100 block of Holly St. in Waterbury, CT. Due to their love and diligence in seeking their child, Janice and William Smolinski, Sr., started “Billy’s Law” so that no other family of a missing loved one would have to go through as many problems that they encountered. The legislation requires the FBI to share information, excluding sensitive and confidential data, with the public database. It authorizes $50 million in grants over five years to encourage state and local officials to share information on missing people and unidentified remains. Police have said they believe Billy Smolinski was murdered.
No one has been charged. Police have searched unsuccessfully for Smolinski’s body in several places, including in Shelton and Seymour, Connecticut.
When Billy disappeared, he and his girlfriend, Madeleine Gleason, had just broken up, police reports say. Gleason told Waterbury police that Smolinski had broken up with her because he thought she was cheating on him, and he left her place in the early morning of Aug. 24, 2004, “a little depressed”—and that was the last time she saw him. In 2006, police received information from a tipster that Gleason’s son, Shaun Karpiuk, killed Smolinski. A tipster reported hearing that Karpiuk and a male accomplice then buried him. Karpiuk died in 2005 at age 27 of a drug overdose.
In 2007, a tipster told police that Karpiuk had said Smolinski “got what he deserved,” and that he and Chad Hanson of Seymour buried him in Shelton. Another witness told police in 2008 that Hanson bragged he and Karpiuk killed Smolinski, and police would never find his body.
Police interviewed Hanson in 2008, at which time he “stated he did not kill Smolinski, but he did help Karpiuk bury the body.” Hanson then led police to property on Bungay Road in Seymour, where Hanson said he had helped bury a barrel, though he told police he did not realize at the time that Smolinski was inside the barrel.
Police conducted a search of the property, with Hanson directing crews to the alleged location of the body. However, while investigators searched an area the size of a football field, there was “no sign of human remains or a barrel being located.” In a later interview with police in 2008, Hanson said he had lied to police and “did not know where the body of William Smolinski was buried.” Shelton police later charged Hanson, 32, with second-degree making a false statement and interfering with a police officer for lying to investigators. The warrant describes Hanson and Karpiuk as “suspects” in the Smolinski case. Hanson was convicted in February 2011, and received a 20-month prison sentence, which included charges related to the Smolinski investigation as well as unrelated charges.
UPDATE 11/6/2013
Billy’s parent’s, Janice and William Smolinski, Sr., have fought for local, state and federal reform in the way law enforcement officers respond to the report of a missing adult. As a result, Connecticut has altered the way police officers are trained to handle adult missing person cases. At the time of Billy’s disappearance, the Smolinski’s were told to wait for three days, and even then the local police were “sluggish” to investigate the disappearance of an adult missing male. Janice Smolinski’s search for Billy led her to Washington D.C. where she testified before Congress on “Billy’s Law”, also known as Help Find the Missing Act, to close loopholes in our national missing persons systems. “Billy’s Law” is sponsored by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. He is looking for a U.S. Republican Senator to co-sponsor the Bill so it can be reintroduced in the Senate.
WE NEED YOU TO CONTACT your U.S. Republican Senator and ask them to co-sponsor “Billy’s Law”
UNITED STATES CAPITOLSWITCHBOARD – 202-224-3121
Links: MISSING, by Michelle Tuccitto Sullo, Ann DeMatteo, Brian McCready and Daniela Forte and The Waterbury Observer (full coverage and updates)
