Ernestyna Wieruszewska and Anna Semczuk went to the third grade of high school. Władysław IV in Warsaw. In 1993, they were 17 years old and planned to take their final exams in a year (studies in high school at that time lasted four years). Ernestyna commuted to school from Legionowo near Warsaw. Ania, on the other hand, lived in the capital, in the Praga-Północ district.
While the teenagers weren't friends for the first two years of high school, it was in the third grade that they formed a special bond. It resulted largely from a common passion for mountain tourism. In addition, the teenagers were good students and had a similar character. Relatives described them as quiet, calm and responsible. They stayed away from drugs and party life. In addition, Ernestyna was very religious and went to holiday oases.
The teenagers decided that during the winter holidays in 1993, they would go to Zakopane for the first trip to the mountains together. January 22 (Friday) was the last day of school before the upcoming two-week break. The holidays started then for students from all over Poland. There was no division into several terms depending on the province, as is the case today. This change came into force only in 2003 due to protests resulting from crowded trains and ski slopes or the lack of accommodation in winter resorts.
January 22, 1993, was supposed to be the beginning of Ernestyna and Ania's trip. After the lessons, the girls went to the train station in Warsaw and boarded the train to Zakopane. They got there in the evening. From there they went to Kościelisko, where they had booked accommodation. They stayed in a large highland house belonging to a local farmer. This choice was not accidental. Ernestyna had stayed here before during trips organized by the church. So the girl knew the owner of the boarding house, which was to be their second home for the next few days. What's more, the woman was also met by Mr. and Mrs. Wieruszewscy. For this reason, the girls' parents could be sure that their daughters were going to a proven place.
Saturday and Sunday were spent climbing the mountains. The girls entered to Gubałówka and reached the Mroźna and Zimna Caves. By the end of the weekend, however, the weather began to deteriorate. On Tuesday, the weather discouraged even the greatest enthusiasts of mountain escapades from going outside. It was snowing and a strong wind was blowing, which made it very cold. Certainly, these were not conditions that would allow high school students who did not have much experience or specialized equipment to walk the mountain trails.
However, the students from Warsaw decided earlier that they would go to Zakopane on Tuesday to buy tickets for the train home. They also planned to meet friends from the capital there. Before leaving the place of accommodation, they paid for the previous stay. However, they assured the concerned owner of the guesthouse that they would not go to the mountains that day. Then they were to head towards the bus stop in Kościelisko to reach Zakopane. However, the landlady did not see this moment, because after receiving the payment, she returned to other duties. In any case, this situation took place on the morning of January 26.
In the evening, the 17-year-olds did not return to their quarters. With each hour that passed, she became more and more nervous. Finally, she told her daughter, who notified TOPR. The next morning, there was still no sign of her friends. This meant that they had to spend the night somewhere else than before. Seriously concerned, the owner of the house called the police and her parents.
It was quite unusual, however, that she decided to contact not Ernestyna's parents, whom she knew, but Anna's parents. The hostess could have felt stupid for not watching Ernestyna to the end and she could have been afraid of a confrontation with her parents. This is of course only a hypothesis. Anyway, the notified parents of both high school girls showed up as soon as they could, which was Thursday morning. They headed straight for the tourist quarters where the schoolgirls had spent the last few nights.
On the spot, relatives did not find Ernestyna and Ania. However, they did notice their things. Interestingly, they were left on the ground floor, and not in a room on the first floor of the house in Kościelisko where they lived. In addition, personal items were in disarray, as if they had been packed in a hurry. The parents decided to act and immediately went to the Zakopane police station.
One of the officers took the report. He suggested, however, that the friends might have stayed somewhere nearby with old friends they were going to meet up with. They could also meet new people who decided to offer them hospitality. Police said the high school girls may have just run away from home. However, this scenario was definitely ruled out by the parents, because it did not fit the behavior of their polite and not prone to rebel daughters.
Investigators, however, did not completely downplay the report of the disappearance. They went to the house in Kościelisko, where their friends were staying. The items that were left missing were carefully checked. Among them were discovered money, documents, clothes or cosmetics 17-year-old. If they wanted to move away somewhere for longer, they would certainly take all these items with them.
It was also established that two train tickets to Warsaw were purchased at the train station in Zakopane on the morning of the girls' disappearance. It is not known, however, whether the transaction was made by Ania and Ernestyna or other tourists, who were certainly not missing in the winter capital of Poland during the holidays. It was also impossible to reach anyone who would confirm that they had seen the missing people that morning.
However, a witness came forward who claimed to have seen two girls get into a red car with a foreign license plate. He even memorized the vehicle numbers he gave the police. Since it was not a Polish registration, the investigators had a difficult task. So they turned to Interpol. However, it did not help much, because the owner of the car was not indicated. Moreover, it was not even possible to verify in which country the car was registered. It is difficult to say whether Interpol employees downplayed the case, they had no technical means to determine whether the numbers were incorrect.
This was not the only missed opportunity to find the teenagers. It turned out that the border services found out about the disappearance with a considerable delay. High school students could therefore cross the Polish border and not arouse suspicion. On the other hand, without documents it would be difficult.
The case was finally publicized in the media. As a result, more reports of alleged witnesses began to appear. Two of them claimed that on January 28, the missing 17-year-olds were traveling by train from Zakopane to Warsaw. Another person told of overhearing a conversation between two men. One of them reported that he was involved in the kidnapping of two teenagers who were taken abroad. It took place shortly after the disappearance of Anna and Ernestyna. However, this information could not be confirmed.
On March 4, a little over a month after the disappearance, Ania's stepfather's car was broken into. Interestingly, nothing was lost at that time except for the bag containing Anna Semczuk's passport and diary. Valuables were left in the car. It is therefore probable that the perpetrator (or perpetrators) meant specifically the personal belongings of the missing person.
Another interesting lead turned out to be the relationship between Ernestyna and the son of the owner of the quarters in Kościelisko. Investigators got information that a high school student caught the eye of a man. However, the 17-year-old was not interested in a closer relationship. So she declined the advance. Investigators suspected that the son of the owner of the boarding house might want revenge. According to some sources, the man even threatened the teenager.
However, no evidence could be found that it was related to the disappearance of friends. He also reportedly had a strong alibi for the day he disappeared. It is also worth adding that the conflict between Ernestyna and her suitor took place during an earlier stay. If the Varsovian woman felt that she was in danger from the rejected man, she probably would not decide to come to Kościelisko again.
According to one of the hypotheses, high school students may have joined a sect. The first half of the 1990s was a time when this was a real threat. The victims of sects were especially young people, who were more susceptible to manipulation by members of such organizations. In addition, Ernestyna was a very religious person, and these were the most frequently recruited. However, such a scenario has never been confirmed.
In 2003, the media was covered by a high-profile case of the murder of a student from the province of Lubuskie. A woman was raped and then murdered in the Tatra Mountains by a man who claimed to be a mountain guide. The perpetrator turned out to be Paweł H., who raped another woman three weeks earlier. The police checked whether the killer was also connected with the disappearance of high school students. However, this possibility was ruled out.
In 2019, another interesting detail came to light. Ernestyna's parents were invited to "Magazyn Kryminalny 997". During the program, pictures of their daughter were shown. One of them aroused the interest of the missing family. It turned out that they saw the photo for the first time.
Of course, today in the era of smartphones, each of us takes hundreds of photos a year. However, at the beginning of the 1990s, there were no such technological achievements. Photos were often taken on special occasions. No wonder that the parents knew practically every photograph in which Ernestyna appeared. In addition, the girl was wearing a jacket, which she took for the first time on a trip to Zakopane.
There was speculation that this was the last photo of the high school student, which could have been taken just before or after her disappearance. It turned out that the photo had been circulating in the media for a long time. However, it is not known who was its author. Unfortunately, this has not been established to date. We also do not know what happened to the two young tourists from Warsaw. The riddle is still waiting to be solved. Hopefully, the X-Files will reopen their investigation in January 2023. Let's hope that the actions of these exceptional specialists will reveal the truth that Ernestyna's parents are waiting for so much.
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