KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
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Community members are calling Roger Golubski, the former Kansas City, Kansas, detective who died in an apparent suicide Monday morning, a coward.
Golubski was scheduled to have day one of his federal trial for deprivation of civil rights Monday morning in Topeka.
It was scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m., but actually began closer to 9:15 a.m.
Moments after it started, it was clear Golubski would be a no-show.
The news came so quickly that the sketch artist KSHB 41 hired — because there were no cameras allowed — didn’t get to finish her drawing.
The incomplete image was indicative of the missing information regarding Golubski’s death that needs filling in.
"I just have so many questions,” said Star Cooper, who believes Golubski killed her mother over 40 years ago. "Did he leave a suicide note? Did he leave an apology letter? What did he leave behind?"
These are questions KSHB 41 was expecting to ask law enforcement at a press conference Monday — including how Golubski got a hold of a weapon despite that violating his 2022 conditions of release for home arrest — but one did not happen.
Instead, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the agency leading the investigation into Golubski’s death, released this a press release.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the entity arguing against Golubski, released this statement Monday:
"This matter involved extremely serious charges, and it is always difficult when a case is unable to be fully and fairly heard in a public trial and weighed and determined by a jury. The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains. We wish them peace and the opportunity for healing as they come to terms with this development and ask that they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected."
The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department says the case for Dorothy Cooper, Star’s mother, remains unsolved despite being reviewed by its cold case unit and the District Attorney’s Integrity Unit.
Still, Cooper remains outspoken about Golubski and his victims — those deceased and alive. She even spoke at the rally outside the courthouse Monday morning.
"I met him when I was 16," said Anita Randle-Stanley, a longtime Wyandotte County resident who says Golubski harassed her family for years. "He’s been a torment in my life, but I've never been scared of him."
Randle-Stanley says they first met when Golubski asked to stake out at her residence for a case he was working on — she declined.
But that didn’t stop the harassment from happening to her and those around her.
"I watched him cause a lot corruption and destruction in people’s life as an officer," Randle-Stanley said.
She and Cooper went to the crime scene in front of Golubski’s home together Monday to confirm for themselves what they only suspected to be true.
"I knew it was going to eventually happen, I just didn’t think it was going to be today," Cooper said.
Cooper says she was eager to see the justice system unfold in Golubski’s trial before she found out he died.
"I just felt he took the easy way out," Cooper said. "He’s a coward — he didn’t want to face everything that he’s done."
Golubski’s death wasn't just close to home for Cooper and Randle-Stanley, but also his neighbors, like Mark Wilson.
He lives in the 800 block of their neighborhood, just one block away from Golubski’s home.
"We realized, 'Woah, he's just a block up the road from us,'" Wilson said. "And all my neighbors and all of us talked about it. Then once you start learning a lot more about what he did, we were all kind of creeped out."
Wilson was at work when Golubski died, but his wife filled him in on it.
"For what I heard he's done, put a lot of innocent people in jail, hurt a lot of people, women, and we depend on these people to protect and serve our community and take advantage of it, you know, an eye for an eye," Wilson said. "Tooth for a tooth."
The routine he and his neighbors fell under can now change.
"We knew what he drove, we knew what he looked like," Wilson said. "I’m kind of glad it’s over, now we don’t have to watch out for him, he was kinda creepy."
And while Golubski’s death is a relief for some, it’s a reminder for others.
"Keep fighting for justice, keep making phone calls, keep standing," Stanley said. "Don’t give up Wyandotte County, this is not the end. Justice still will be served."
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