Kamil Szybinski, a student at Marymount College (MC), was found dead on the bottom of Inspiration Point (IP) in Rancho Palos Verdes, California on Tuesday, September 17, 2002.
This looks like an open and shut case. The boy jumped. Go back to work, sleep, play, or whatever it is you were doing.
Lingering doubts remain for the following reasons.
The following three possibilities exist.
Background on lingering doubts is presented below.
Kamil had a big large hole in his lower back, with internal organs eviscerating. But it wasn't clearly apparent when looking at the body. One had to lift the shirt to see that something was wrong. The coroners report states that death resulted from a hit on a rock and that the tail of his shirt was tucked into his pants. It is not clear how a rock can puncture the back, break a spine, expose a bunch of organs inside, and yet leave the shirt intact and tucked into his pants.
Charles Mulhearn stated that when he found Kamil he thought he was a stoner who passed out face down and that he was still alive.
The paramedic first on the scene found Kamil lying half on his side, half face down, with the back of his shirt clearly exposed. The paramedic could not see anything wrong with the boy. His training dictated that a patient should be undressed. The shirt was lifted. That is when the big hole in the back became evident.
How could the shirt be tucked in if it needed to be untucked during undressing?
The fact that Kamil had a large hole in his back and the shirt was untouched and unpenetrated and according to the autopsy tucked in indicates that the boy was dressed after death.
There is a ledge about 3-4 meters wide at the very tip of Inspiration Point. This is the only logical place to commit suicide since underneath is a cliff with a more or less 90 degree angle. The sheriff says his body was found consistent with such a fall. This location is about 5 steps away from the point at the end of the cliffs. A rather eccentric onsite witness puts his body slightly farther away, about 20 steps from the end point. Credible onsite witnesses place the body even farther away, about 30 steps from the end point. As one walks away from the end point the distance of the tide pools from the cliff increases significantly. To the point where it would have been impossible to jump since Kamil would have had to run faster than the world 100 m sprint record holder with a backpack full of books on one arm. In 2.6 seconds (time it takes to fall 112 feet) Kamil would have had to clear 28 meters of distance in a lateral direction. Credible onsite witnesses stated that they felt he could not have jumped to where he landed, the tide must have moved him there.
Note1: See pictures of area at http://www.californiacoastline.org Search for title Inspiration Point. Picture 4483, illustrates the divergence of the cliffs from the tide pools. The end of the point is where the blowhole enters the cliff. The distance from the end point to the sign is 35 steps.
Note2: If tides and water moved body and backpack, then all the contents would be water parched. About half the backpack contents were dry and untouched by water. The tide fell below the 4.2 water mark at about 9AM that day. See tides reference page here.
Kamil had a backpack slung over his left arm. It does not make sense that one would jump off a cliff to commit suicide with a backpack on one arm.
Palos Verdes Drive West winds and twists and turns for about 20-30 minutes. Along the way there are only houses. In 2003 there were no Dietrichs listed in the phone books in Palos Verdes. The only reason one would be driving to MC using PV Drive West is if one lived on the penninsula, or to take the very long and difficult way to school.
Background on each of the alternate theories is presented below.
At the tip of Inspiration Point there are two blowholes. Kayakers and local enthusiasts jump into them. In the western blowhole there is a sharp rock about 1/4 meter below the surface of the water. See blowholes reference page here. Kamil was heavily into sports acrobatics. The puncture in his lower back, which killed him, is consistent with a cannonball type of jump into water.
It seems that the school and students knew about the death before the sheriff detectives arrived on the scene. It is not clear how they found out and at what time they found out and who told them. From the 911 tapes we determined that the Fire department arrived on the scene at 12:00, and that the sheriff's patrol or deputy arrived on the scene at 12:10. The coroner report states that death was officially determined at 12:20 and that the Sheriff detectives arrived on the scene at 13:44. The school's Vice President told the private investigator, John Small, that he found out about the incident at exactly 12:00. When asked about the time source, which the PI wanted to calibrate, VP refused to elaborate and just said something to the effect of "I know it was exactly 12 o'clock". Also, when Kamil's school telephone records were examined they showed that somebody tried to call the family in Poland at a vacation home at an esoteric telephone number not listed in any official school records at 12:03 and 12:07. The private investigator, John Small, determined that the students in the dormitory knew about the incident at 13:00.
Charles Mulhearn cried and acted strangely on the scene and made statements that this was the third time he has found a dead body near the ocean.
While speaking with him over the telephone he mentioned that the first body that he found was the head of one of Randy Kraft's victims. Randy Kraft is one of California's most notorious serial killers. He is currently on death row. The head that Charles Mulhearn claims to have found apparently belonged to Kieth Crotwell and was found in the Seal Beach jetty. Theories abound that Randy Kraft had an assistant. The body that belonged to the head supposedly was found in a location that would clearly indicate that Randy Kraft could not have worked alone. Bodies can be very heavy and extremely difficult for a single person to move.
Det. Winters who investigated Kamil's death is now (2006) the department head of the Los Angeles Sheriff's serial murders investigation team.
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