Kedys story revived

VILNIUS - On Nov. 8, the program Abipus Sienos of LNK TV aired its interview with a man named “Tomas” (not his real name) who claimed to be a police informer and who stated that the highest leadership of the police was informed by him about the murder plans of the now famous Drasius Kedys three weeks before the murders occurred, but the police did nothing to stop these killings and only urged the alleged informer not to contact prosecutors. The trailers promoting this program were shown by LNK TV before Nov. 8 and provoked turmoil within the Lithuanian police force. “Tomas” claims that he was in friendly relations with Kedys before the murders.

“It puts a big shadow on the police,” Donatas Malaskevicius, head of the Lithuanian police department’s immunity service, said, promising to investigate the accusations by “Tomas” who, according to LTV, is now guarded in an unknown place by security agents of the VIP Protection Department, which usually protects only state leaders. “Tomas” stated to LNK TV that he gave detailed information about the coming killings in a meeting with high police officials, including Visvaldas Rackauskas, who was deputy commissioner general of the Lithuanian Police. Rackauskas responded to these accusations stating that he never met with “Tomas” and never had information about the planned killings.

Algirdas Stoncaitis, another deputy commissioner general of the Lithuanian Police, and Tomas Ulpis, then deputy chief of the Lithuanian Criminal Police (now the police chief of Marijampole), did not deny their former contacts with “Tomas.” On Nov. 11, searches were conducted in the offices and homes of Rackauskas, Stoncaitis, Ulpis and other high-standing police officials. On Nov. 14, Rackauskas and Ulpis became official suspects in the case, charged with abuse-of-power and falsifying of documents. On Nov. 14, Rackauskas resigned from his post while prosecutors said that they will officially announce their suspicions on other high-ranking policemen as well.

On Nov. 6, the prosecutors decided to detain two persons who, according to information by “Tomas,” helped Kedys in preparation for the murders. Raimundas Ivanauskas, 55, an almost blind singer with the Kaunas City State Choir and a former leading athlete in body-building, was detained for one month while his girlfriend, Egle Barauskaite, 32, (this pair has a 1-1/2 year-old child) was detained for 10 days. “We have grounds to suspect that they participated in preparation for the crime,” Prosecutor Irmantas Mikelionis said on Nov. 7.

The Twin Peaks-style Kedys story is known to everybody in Lithuania. On Oct. 5, 2009, Kedys, 37, who said his young daughter (who is now seven years old) had been the victim of a pedophile ring which included businessman Andrius Usas, gunned down, say prosecutors, Judge Jonas Furmanavicius and the aunt of Kedys’ daughter in Kaunas. Earlier, Kedys publicly blamed both of them for being involved in the molestation. After the double murder in Kaunas, Kedys remained at large. In April 2010, Kedys was found dead near Kaunas. A gun, which was used in the double murder, was found near Kedys’ corpse. Officials concluded that Kedys died due to vomiting caused by alcohol abuse.

Usas mysteriously drowned in a very shallow small lake in June 2010. Before these series of deaths, Kedys and Laimute Stankunaite, his former girlfriend, had a long fight over their daughter. Since the killings of Oct. 5, Kedys’ daughter has been living under the temporary custody of Judge Neringa Venckiene, who is the sister of Kedys. “Tomas” stated to LNK TV that Venckiene inspired her brother, Kedys, to commit the killings of Oct. 5. Kedys planned to kill more people but failed due to a car accident during his actions of Oct. 5, according to “Tomas.” Kedys, according to “Tomas,” planned to also later kill Kaunas Judge Albertas Milinis, whose stepson was killed by unknown people in December 2010.

“It is an absolute lie,” Judge Venckiene wrote on the accusations of “Tomas” on the Web site drasiauskelias.lt  – this is the Web site of the organization of Kedys’ fans, which plans to become a political party. Venckiene stated that the entire story with “Tomas” was invented due to the coming decisions in the court regarding Kedys’ daughter: Venckiene and the mother of Kedys’ daughter are fighting in the courts for the right to take care of Kedys’ daughter. Venckiene said that “performance” with the alleged police informer could be invented by her enemies with the intention of accusing her of masterminding the killings of Oct. 5.

On Nov. 9, Prosecutor General Darius Valys spoke about a 500 litas fine he received from the court for his minor car accident, but he also spoke about the newly appeared mystical police informer. “We will need to question Venckiene,” he said.
On Nov. 10, the Supreme Court rejected prosecutors’ demands to close the alleged child molestation case due to the death of Usas, who was the only official suspect in the case. The decision was greeted by Kedys’ fans, who gathered to picket in front of the court.