Ex-Kansas police detective found dead on first day of federal civil rights trial

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December 3, 2024

By Erik Ortiz and Michael Kosnar, NBC

A white former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide on the day his federal civil rights trial was set to begin for allegedly sexually abusing Black women over decades, authorities said.

An arrest warrant had been issued when Roger Golubski, 71, failed to appear at a federal courthouse in Topeka on the first day of jury selection. Law enforcement received a 911 call and responded to Golubski’s home in the Kansas City suburb of Edwardsville, where police reported he suffered a fatal gunshot wound with no indications of foul play, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said.

State authorities declined to comment on the manner of his death before an autopsy is complete. Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News that he appeared to have died by suicide.

Top Justice Department officials also confirmed his death in a statement.

“This matter involved extremely serious charges, and it is always difficult when a case is unable to be fully and fairly heard in a public trial and weighed and determined by a jury,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke and Kate Brubacher, the U.S. attorney for Kansas. “The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains. We wish them peace and the opportunity for healing as they come to terms with this development and ask that they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected.”

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