Mysterious disappearance and theft at a gas station

 This is one of those cases where none of the theories quite makes sense. The story of the disappearance of 20-year-old Wojciech Gorzkowski in December 2007 is full of dead ends and unexplained clues. 

Wojtek, born in 1987, grew up in Wrocław. He was a boy who, at first glance, seemed destined for success. From an early age, he enjoyed sports – perhaps thanks to his father, a professional referee. Wojtek played volleyball, kept fit at the gym, and excelled in school. He was considered a top student in elementary school, middle school, and then high school. The natural progression was university – he chose management and production engineering at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He also had a girlfriend, with whom he had a successful relationship.

However, his greatest passion, one that consumed much of his time and money, was motoring. The 20-year-old was the proud owner of a rare, dark blue 1989 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro (registration number DB 36863). As he wrote on a popular internet forum at the time (where he was known under the pseudonym "Ciechwoj"):

Wojtek invested a great deal of energy in his Audi—washing upholstery, repairing lighting, and painting bumpers. He was a member of the Audi Poland Club, and the car had a distinctive sticker on the rear window.

By 2007, the Gorzkowski family was already living in Długołęka, near Wrocław. This move, according to sources, was a necessity, not a choice. Wojtek wasn't entirely happy with the situation.

On Saturday, December 15, 2007, a fight broke out between the 20-year-old and his father. The argument was over picking up his younger brother from a tournament, but also—as is often the case in families—"about the whole thing." An angry Wojtek finally said he was "going to go" and headed for the exit. His father managed to ask him, "Will you find a place where they respect you more? Where do they love you more? "

At 6:30 PM, Wojtek got into his Audi and drove away. Half an hour later, he was seen at the Korona shopping centre in Wrocław, where he'd purchased a new cell phone that morning. That evening, he sent two more text messages – one to a friend in Krakow, the other to a friend he wanted to meet for a game of billiards. Around 9 PM, the phone went silent forever.

When Wojtek didn't return that night, his parents initially assumed he'd simply decided to spend the night at his girlfriend's to cool off after a fight. However, when she called them the next day, concerned because she couldn't reach him, his family began to suspect something was wrong. Wojtek was usually very responsible.

A very specific, yet misleading, lead quickly emerged. It turned out that on December 15th at 10:50 PM, fuel worth 150 złoty had been stolen from a gas station near Długołęka. The perpetrator was driving a rare Audi 200 – its license plates had been removed, but the car was unlocked with a key. The surveillance footage, unfortunately of very poor quality, shows a person wearing a striped sweater (the missing man was wearing a similar one) and white sports shoes. 

The perpetrator appears to be bald, although Wojtek was very light-haired, and in the footage, his hair color might have blended with his skin. A light stain was also noted on the passenger seat, suggesting a companion. Did Wojtek steal the fuel because he ran out of money to maintain the car (it burned 16 liters of gas per 100 km)? The build was consistent, but the case remains undecided.

The investigation was launched on two fronts. Police investigated, among other things, a possible trip to visit family in the UK. However, the boy wasn't listed on any airline or bus passenger lists. It's worth noting that colleagues from the Audi Poland Club demonstrated great determination, conducting their own street patrols in search of the distinctive car. In December, someone spotted the car without license plates on Litomska Street in Wrocław.

The turning point (albeit an apparent one) came at the end of January 2008. A district police officer spotted a familiar Audi parked on Ścinawska Street, just 350 meters from Litomska Street, where Wojtek's phone had last logged in. The car was locked, had a damaged bumper, chipped paint, a broken headlight, and... a cracked sunroof, completely out of character for the owner, who took such good care of his car. No signs of a struggle or blood were found inside.

Police managed to locate a witness who saw the car on the first weekend of January. He testified that a group of six 18-year-olds (four boys and two girls) got out of the Audi. When presented with a photo of the missing man, the witness firmly stated that Wojtek was not among them. Police are still shrouded in secrecy regarding the details of the investigation.

What happened to Wojtek?

1. Suicide 

The missing man's younger brother (then 13) assessed, in retrospect, that Wojtek may have been struggling with depression. He stopped excelling in his studies, spent entire days in bed or in front of the computer, and his ambition faded. She also noticed that he had become apathetic and was distancing himself from her. Shortly before his disappearance, his mood allegedly suddenly improved—which, in psychology, can signal that the patient has made a final, peace-giving decision. Perhaps an argument with his father (possibly over finances) was the trigger. The problem with this theory? The body was never found, and someone must have obtained possession of the car and keys.

2. Murder motivated by robbery

The rare Audi might have caught someone's eye. Perhaps Wojtek stopped to think about the argument and was attacked? He loved that car and certainly wouldn't have given it up without a fight. The perpetrators could have driven him into the woods and killed him, and later – seeing the publicity surrounding the case – abandoned the car, which had earlier been used by a group of random teenagers. However, stealing fuel on surveillance footage doesn't fit the profile of murderers concerned with covering their tracks.

3. Conscious escape

There were rumors of him defecting to the Foreign Legion, but this scenario has the most loopholes. Wojtek didn't take his clothes, passport, or savings. Above all, he certainly wouldn't have handed over his dream car to strangers and left empty-handed.

Nearly 20 years have passed since that December night. On the day he disappeared, Wojciech (183 cm tall, slim, with gray-blue eyes) was wearing dark jeans, white Nike shoes, a black fabric jacket, and a dark sweater. Somewhere, there are surely people who know the truth about his fate—for example, the 18-year-olds from Ścinawska Street. However, until someone breaks the conspiracy of silence, the mystery of the navy blue Audi 200 will remain unsolved.

The mysterious disappearance and mystery of the red Polonez

 On March 9, 1999, a young resident of Krzeszowice left his parents' house to pick up his wife from work. He never arrived. Three days later, 80 kilometres away, the wreckage of his burned-out car was found. Despite the passage of more than 25 years, the Andrzej Prostak case remains one of the most enigmatic unsolved cases in Małopolska.

Andrzej Prostak was born on November 22, 1972. In 1999, he was a 26-year-old man settling into life in his hometown of Krzeszowice. Although the city is only 25 kilometers from Krakow, Andrzej, after entering adulthood in the difficult 1990s, chose to remain close to his parents, who lived on Targowa Street.

It's known that he was married. The couple, just beginning their journey together, had no children – their plans for the future were brutally interrupted on the evening of March 9th. Andrzej was a man with a swarthy complexion, an oval face, and dark hair. His defining characteristic was a limp on his right leg and scars: one on his eyebrow, the other post-operative around his Achilles tendon.

Andrzej spent the last hours before his disappearance at his parents' apartment. The atmosphere was routine – nothing foreshadowed tragedy. Around 6:40 PM , he said goodbye to his loved ones. He had a clear plan: drive to a gas station, fill up his red Polonez, and arrive at the Czatkowice estate at 7:00 PM to pick up his wife, who was finishing her shift at work.

Andrzej never arrived at their scheduled appointment. Concerned, the woman called her in-laws at 7:20 PM, asking about her husband. The parents were astonished – their son had left less than an hour earlier and hadn't mentioned any change in plans. Something must have happened on the short stretch of road between Targowa Street and the gas station.

The investigation revealed that a red Polonez was seen at a gas station in Krzeszowice around 7:00 p.m. Although surveillance was rare at the time, witnesses remembered an important detail: there were two men in the car.

If Andrzej was the driver, who was the passenger? Was it an acquaintance whom Andrzej decided to help, or perhaps an attacker who terrorized the 26-year-old immediately after leaving his home? Polonezs were the most popular cars in Poland at the time, making a clear identification difficult, but the coincidence of time and location suggests it was the missing man's vehicle.

Three days after the missing person was reported, a macabre breakthrough occurred. In the village of Poręba Spytkowska near Brzesko – approximately 80 kilometers from Krzeszowice – the wreckage of a burned-out car was found. It was lying in a roadside ditch. It was Andrzej Prostak's red Polonez.

The vehicle was completely burned, suggesting a deliberate act by the perpetrator to erase any biological evidence: fingerprints, hair, or signs of a struggle. The most puzzling element, however, was the license plates. They weren't burned with the car—they lay abandoned next to the charred wreckage. Why did the perpetrator bother to remove them and then leave them in place, practically "signing off" the find?

The location of the saddest chapters in the history of Małopolska's disappearances. The family is still waiting for an answer to the wreck, in a place completely unknown to Andrzej, which suggests the perpetrator was trying to buy time. A distance of 80 kilometres in 1999, considering the road conditions at the time, was a considerable distance. Several scenarios emerge in this case:

Accidental Hitchhiker: Andrzej, known for his kindness, could have picked someone up along the way. The encounter could have ended in a scuffle, an accident (the car in a ditch), and the perpetrator's subsequent attempt to conceal the crime.

Kidnapping for ransom or robbery: The perpetrator may have terrorised Andrzej with a gun, forcing him to leave the city.

"Sham deals": Although the family denied that Andrzej had any enemies, it cannot be ruled out that the young man came into conflict with the local criminal world, something his relatives were unaware of.

Despite the discovery of the burned-out car, Andrzej Prostak's body was never found. The lack of surveillance, the limited evidence in the wreck, and the passage of time stalled the investigation. Today, more than a quarter of a century later, this case remains one of the question: what happened to the 26-year-old who simply wanted to pick up his wife from work?