A former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective was found dead in an apparent suicide on the same day his federal trial was scheduled to begin.
Roger Golubski worked for decades with the Kansas City Police Department before retiring in 2010. In 2022, the ex-policeman was accused of sexually abusing two women during his career.
On Monday morning, when his trial was set to begin, Kansas authorities reported Golubski had sustained a “fatal gunshot wound” at his home in the Kansas City suburb of Edwardsville.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said there were no indications of foul play surrounding the sudden death. The bureau announced an investigation into the incident, and an autopsy has also been scheduled, according to a press release.
Top officials from the state’s justice department also weighed in on the apparent suicide, saying that the case Golubski was involved in surrounded “extremely serious charges.”
“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,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Kate Brubacher for the District of Kansas said in a statement. “The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains.”
Golubski, who worked for the Kansas City police department for 35 years, was first arrested in 2022 after a federal grand jury indicted him on six counts of civil rights violations. He was accused of raping two women between 1998 and 2002, as well as exchanging drugs for information during criminal investigations.
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Golubski pleaded not guilty to the charges. He faced up to life in prison if he was convicted in the federal trial set to begin Monday.
Golubski also led the investigation into Lamonte McIntyre, a man who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in 1994 for a double murder. He served 23 years before being exonerated. The FBI launched an investigation into Golubski in 2019.