KBI closes investigation of ex-KCK cop Roger Golubski’s death, didn’t learn how he got gun
Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
The death of disgraced former Kansas City, Kansas, detective Roger Golubski has been ruled a suicide, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.
Golubski was found dead at his Edwardsville home on Dec. 2 — the day his federal criminal trial was set to begin — with a gunshot wound that appeared self-inflicted, investigators said.
In a news release issued Tuesday, KBI investigators said they found five suicide notes written by Golubski at his home. They also said they found a handgun on the back deck of the house.
Investigators traced the gun back to a Kansas City, Missouri, woman who said the weapon had been stolen from her car in 2022, according to the KBI.
“Agents were not able to determine how Golubski gained possession of the firearm,” the release said.
For years, Golubski has been accused of terrorizing predominantly Black neighborhoods in KCK and using the power of his badge to rape and abuse women. His suicide came as he faced six felony criminal charges for allegedly depriving two women of their civil rights.
Golubski had been on house arrest in Edwardsville for about two years leading up to the start of his trial. His roommate and longtime partner, Lorene Stewart, called 911 after hearing gunfire around 9 a.m. when the former KCK homicide detective allegedly shot himself in the temple.
Investigators noted Tuesday that Golubski left the home at 8:30 on the morning of his trial. Instead of going to the courthouse, investigators believe he called his attorney and several relatives, then returned home.
Golubski’s toxicology report came back without any significant findings, according to investigators. He did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his death, and the KBI does not suspect foul play.
His death prevented women who had accused him of sexual violence from telling their stories in court. As many as nine women were set to speak, including Ophelia Williams, referred to in court documents as O.W.
According to Williams, Golubski first raped her in 1999, shortly after her teenage sons were arrested and charged in a homicide case Golubski investigated.
Agents with the KBI had contacted Williams by text Tuesday afternoon, asking to speak with her Wednesday regarding Golubski’s death investigation, she said.
Williams said the news that Golubski’s death had been ruled a suicide “took a load off of (her) heart.” It signifies an admission of his guilt, she said.
“He wanted to make peace with himself,” Williams said. “I guess that’s what he did. He accepted the guilt that he had and he wrote them notes to let people know that he’s guilty. He was guilty. He probably was sorry that all of that happened, that his life was like that.”
How did he get a gun?
Since Golubski’s death, many have questioned how the former officer got access to a firearm in spite of a court order banning him from having one under supervision by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services agents. He was also subject to electronic monitoring.
During his house arrest, Golubski’s exits were limited to approved doctors’ appointments and court dates.
Golubski previously violated his house arrest by visiting a Culver’s franchise near the Legends Outlets shopping mall in February 2022. Prosecutors sought to have his house arrest revoked at the time, but Magistrate Judge Rachel Schwartz instead issued a verbal warning in court.
The KBI previously said that figuring out how he got access to a gun would be part of the state review of his death. However, after identifying the gun’s previous owner Tuesday, KBI said the investigation is now closed.
The agency declined a request from The Star for additional details around the investigation, including whether the gun had been tested for fingerprints and DNA evidence, how long the gun was in the home and how much knowledge Stewart had about the gun.
“In order to be responsive to the heightened public interest in this case, we released more information than is typical for death investigations that are determined to be suicides,” KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood wrote Wednesday. “Unfortunately I cannot share additional information outside of yesterday’s news release.”
For Kansas City attorney Cheryl Pilate — who brought serious allegations against Golubski to light while representing wrongfully imprisoned Lamonte McIntyre — closing the death investigation only opens up more questions.
“Someone who’s done all the things he did for 40 years with a badge cannot simply neatly disappear from the face of the earth and leave no business behind,” Pilate told The Star. “There’s tremendous unfinished business.”
Pilate is calling for public transparency around whether the gun that Golubski used to kill himself was processed for fingerprints or DNA evidence. She is also calling for KBI to share who else visited Golubski leading up to his trial or whether any other guns or contraband were found in the home after his death.
Kansas City nonprofit MORE2 has been heavily involved in advocating for justice on behalf of Golubski’s victims. For CEO Lora McDonald, closing the investigation this early does a disservice to those impacted by his tenure at KCKPD, she said.
“The victims, who have been assaulted, raped, wrongfully incarcerated, and/or not had loved ones’ deaths properly investigated, among other atrocities, deserve better than a statement,” McDonald told The Star Wednesday. “The KBI, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, and the United States Department of Justice have engaged in ongoing nonfeasance when it comes to these survivors... These victims want proof, not a statement, that Golubski is dead and that only he committed the crime.”
Decades of alleged abuse
Golubski worked for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department for 35 years, from 1975 to 2010. He then worked as a police officer in Edwardsville for six years, retiring in 2016.
In addition to the federal case he was supposed to stand trial for on the day of his death, he had been indicted for a second federal case related to involvement in an underage sex-trafficking ring, which he allegedly used his status as a police officer to hide from investigators. Three co-defendants - including drug kingpin Cecil Brooks - are also alleged to have been involved in the sex-trafficking operation, which ran from an apartment complex near 26th Street and Delavan Avenue.
Numerous accusations against Golubski surfaced after McIntyre was released from prison in 2017 and exonerated of a double murder he did not commit. McIntyre was 17 in 1994 when he was convicted of murdering Doniel Quinn and Donald Ewing and incarcerated, based largely on what was deemed to be shoddy police work by Golubski.
Lamonte McIntyre’s mother, Rosie McIntyre, has alleged that Golubski solicited sexual favors from her in the 1980s, threatening to arrest her and her boyfriend if she did not comply. According to Rosie McIntyre, Golubski sexually assaulted her at KCKPD headquarters and then harassed her for weeks, saying he would pay her for a long-term sexual agreement.
Rosie McIntyre moved and changed her number. Lawyers for both McIntyres have said in court filings that Golubski victimized, assaulted or harassed more than 70 women.
‘Yanked away at the last minute’
To Pilate, who represented Lamonte McIntyre, suicide was a way for Golubski to escape accountability. But his associates on and off the police force can still be held accountable for the harm he wrought on the Black community, she said.
“People, especially the victims, have been very much harmed by his death,” Pilate told The Star. “They prepared themselves and organized their lives around the fact that they were going to testify in this tremendously momentous trial, which represented law enforcement accountability, or which they hoped would represent law enforcement accountability in a way none of them had ever seen before.
…To be deprived of that opportunity and have it yanked away at the last minute has been tremendously upsetting.”
Some of the women who Golubski allegedly assaulted have doubted news of his death. Williams is not among them.
“I believe KBI, I believe all of them, that he’s dead,” she told The Star Tuesday. “He didn’t have no reason to live on. And I’m cool with that.”
She wishes, though, that she could read the notes he left behind.
Previous reporting by the staff of The Kansas City Star contributed to this article.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 5:16 PM.
