Peter Kudzinowski

Peter Kudzinowski
Born	1903 Poland
Died	December 21, 1929 (aged 25–26)
Cause of death	Electrocution
Criminal penalty	Death
Conviction(s)	First-degree murder
Killings
Victims	3 confirmed
Span of killings	1924–1928
Country	United States
State(s)	Pennsylvania, New Jersey
Date apprehended	1928

Peter Kudzinowski (1903 – December 21, 1929) was a Polish-born American serial killer who committed his crimes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Biography

Kudzinowski worked as a railroad section hand and as a miner. He had a brother Julian who lived in Greenwood, near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Kudzinowski killed one adult and two children:

• Ronnie Rosen, near Scranton, in 1924.

• Joseph Storella (1921-1928). Kudzinowski accosted two other children at the same location, but they ran away. Kudzinowski met Storella on First Avenue in New York City, at about 5:30 in the evening. He took Joseph to a movie then took him by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson train to Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey and then walked him to the swamps in Secaucus. When Joseph tried to get away, Kudzinowski knocked him down and hit him several times. Worrying that the boy's cries would attract passing cars, he slashed his throat, covered the body with the boy's overcoat, and left him.

• Julia Mlodzianowski (1923-1928). She lived on Gilchrist Street in Jersey City and was at a school picnic at Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey on August 19, 1928 when she was murdered.

Kudzinowski was a suspect in the disappearance of Billy Gaffney, who vanished in 1927; Albert Fish would later claim to have murdered Gaffney. Both serial killers worked in the same time frame and in the same geographic area and killed children. He was also a suspect in the murder of Irving Pickelny, who disappeared from Brooklyn in February 1927.

Kudzinowski was captured in Detroit, Michigan, confessed, and was brought to Jersey City for trial. He was found guilty of first-degree murder on November 17, 1928. He was sentenced to death at the New Jersey State Prison on February 24, 1929. He was executed by electric chair on December 21, 1929 in Trenton, New Jersey.

See also

• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of people executed in New Jersey

References

• New York Times; December 8, 1928; Tried to Lure Two, Boy's Slayer Says; Miner Admits He Sought to Get Small Girl and Boy on East Side to Go With Him. Due Here Tomorrow. Storella Lad's Body Brought Home for Burial Tomorrow. Grand Jury Sits, Indictment Reported. Peter Kudzinowski, whose confession in Detroit led Jersey City detectives to the body of Joseph Storella, 7 years old, who was lured from Manhattan on November 17 and killed on the meadows near Secaucus, New Jersey, admitted yesterday that he had tried to lure two other children before he met the Storella boy.
• New York Times; December 11, 1928; Slayer Confesses to Third Murder; Kudzinowski, Prisoner in Jersey City, Admits He Strangled a 5-Year-Old Girl. Clears up Old Mystery. Indicted for Killing Storelli Boy. Mother Berates Son as Police Question Him. Peter Kudzinowski, confessed murderer of a 5-year-old boy and a man, admitted early this morning having committed a third murder, that of a 5-year-old girl, at Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, last August.
• New York Times; December 12, 1928, Wednesday; Slayer Re-Enacts his Third Murder; Kudzonowski Shows Police Spot at Lake Hopatcong Where He Killed 5-Year-Old Girl. Her Body Sought in River. He Declares He Threw it Into the Delaware From a Moving Freight Train. Unnerved While Confessing. Hunt Body in River. Fail to Find Body of Quinn. After being questioned by Jersey City police and Mayor Frank Hague until 4 o'clock yesterday morning, Peter Kudzinowski signed a confession telling how on the afternoon of August 19 he had lured Julia Mlodzianowski, 5 years old, into the woods near Lake Hopatcong, murdered and ...
• New York Times; January 12, 1929, Saturday; Finds Boy's Slayer in an Hour; Jury Returns Verdict of First Degree Murder Against Confessed Kidnapper. Kudzinowski Is Unmoved. Imposition of Death Penalty Set for Wednesday. Counsel Say They Will Appeal. After sixty-three minutes' deliberation yesterday the jury before Judge Egan in the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Jersey City, returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree without a recommendation against Peter Kudzinowski, 26-year-old railroad section hand, who confessed to the kidnapping and murder ...
• New York Times; December 21, 1929, Saturday; Slayer of Boy Dies in Electric Chair; Kudzinowski Put to Death in Trenton for Killing Joseph Storelli, 7, of This City.