Ex-detective accused of sexual assault found dead the day his federal trial was set to begin
TOPEKA, Kan. (KCTV/Gray News) - A disgraced former detective in Kansas who faced charges including sexual assault was found dead on the day he was set to go on trial.
Roger Golubski, 71, charged with violating the civil rights of two women, did not appear for his federal trial in Topeka, Kansas, “due to being despondent over media attention of the trial,” according to his attorney.
Hours later, federal prosecutors confirmed Golubski had died from a fatal gunshot wound.
The Edwardsville Police Department stated that officers responded to Golubski’s home in the 700 block of South 9th Street due to a reported gunshot. When they arrived, they found Golubski dead on his back porch.
Police did not officially declare the incident a suicide, but they did say there were “no indications of foul play.”
The Department of Justice alleged Golubski assaulted two teenage victims over several years in the late 1990s and into the 2000s.
Golubski had denied the allegations and was on house arrest while awaiting trial because of his health.
Many people have accused Golubski of committing crimes over three decades while working in the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and he has been the subject of numerous KCTV5 investigations.
KCTV5 Investigates had previously talked with Ophelia Williams, one of Golubski’s accs who was set to testify in the trial. She said that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Golubski and still has bad dreams about the encounters more than 25 years later.
“He didn’t come back one time to rape me. He came back and back,” Williams told KCTV5 earlier this year.
When she threatened to call the police, she said Golubski was unfazed.
“He said, ‘I am the police,’ What good would it do? It would be a long time before anybody found me,’” said Williams.
The trial was the first of two federal cases against Golubski.
The second involves a sex trafficking ring at a Kansas City, Kansas apartment complex. There are three co-defendants in that case. Golubski allegedly protected the men from investigation while the illegal activity was going on.
After Golubski failed to appear at his trial on Monday morning, a judge issued an arrest warrant. The case was dismissed upon learning of the former detective’s death.
“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 with this development and ask that they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected,” The Justice Department said in a statement on the case of the United States v. Golubski.
Investigators have scheduled an autopsy.
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