Waldemar Kossakowski
UNSOLVED: Homeless Man Beaten to Death in Downtown Amarillo Alley
More than two decades after Waldemar Kossakowski was found beaten to death in a downtown Amarillo alley, police have not identified the person responsible for his murder.
Kossakowski’s body was discovered in August 2002 in an alley in the 800 block of South Van Buren Street. Investigators determined that he had been assaulted and beaten to death.
Police described Kossakowski as a transient who had lived on the streets of downtown Amarillo for several years. Because he moved through the area without a permanent residence, investigators had difficulty locating witnesses who knew his activities or could reconstruct his final hours.
One person told police that they heard two men fighting around the time of the killing. Investigators also recovered an object near the crime scene that they believed was likely used to assault Kossakowski. Authorities have never publicly identified the suspected murder weapon or disclosed whether it produced usable forensic evidence.
Detectives initially considered the possibility that Kossakowski’s killer was also unhoused or transient. If so, the assailant may have left Amarillo before police could identify or question him. That theory has not been publicly confirmed.
Investigators revisited the case around 2011 or 2012 after receiving new information. Although those developments prompted additional work, they did not identify a suspect.
In a 2017 appeal for information, Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit Lt. Erick Bohannan said the lack of witnesses and reliable information had made the homicide particularly difficult to solve. He encouraged anyone with even a seemingly insignificant detail to contact investigators so detectives could determine whether it was connected to the case.[1]
No arrest or later breakthrough has been publicly announced, and Kossakowski’s murder remains unsolved. Anyone with information can contact the Amarillo Police Department Cold Case Unit at 806-378-6468. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Amarillo Crime Stoppers at 806-374-4400 or through the P3 Tips app.