Day 12- Iwona Kaminska

discussing the disappearance of twenty year old Ivona Kaminska. Her disappearance from the nation's capital was immediately concerning to her family in Poland, and the fact that she has still not been found is something that haunts her loved ones. This episode is about a missing person and so does not gain any graphic descriptions. However, there is reference to the murder of a child and some reference to sexual assault. As always, this is not graphic, but listener discretion is

always advised. The year two thousand was an iconic year for people around the world, and everyone had been waiting for the millennium to arrive. The idea of heading into a new century was something which equally excited and panicked many people. One of the people who had decided that two thousand was going to be a fresh start was twenty year old Ivona Kaminska. Ivona lived in a town around five miles from the city of Lublin in eastern Poland.

She was close with her family and kept them updated about her plans and what she wanted to do with her future. She was particularly close to her brother and sister, who she spoke too often. One thing that she was passionate about was improving her grasp of the English language, and this was something that is inspired her to consider moving to the UK. If ownA also had friends who already lived there, and she believed that she might settle in well, given that she could also spend time with

friends while learning the language. Ivona made her plans during the year two thousand to travel to London, and she was excited and ready to go. She traveled to the UK during early July two thousand and arrived there on July ninth. Ifna quickly settled into London life with the help of her friends that had already made a life for themselves in the city. It's known that she moved in with some of these friends who lived close to

the Arndale Center in Wandsworth in South London. As well as finding somewhere to stay, Ivonna also quickly gained employment when she arrived in the UK. Within a couple of days of arriving in London, if Owa had got herself a job at a Polish own business that was located on King Street in Hammersmith. The job would be casual shifts at a shop. Within just four days of arriving in the UK, if ownA had somewhere to live with some friends and also a job, this must have been

an exciting time for her. After planning her future based around her success in London, her family eagerly awaited hearing from her and all about how she'd been getting on since she left Poland. The contact that her family expected from her never came, and after several days of not hearing from Ivona, her family were very quickly concerned. They knew that she would always contact them and this was definitely out of character. Even with all of the moving

and disruption. Her family knew that she would find the time to get in touch. If Owa's father Jan stated about this. She was in constant contact with her family and adored her brother and sister. No contact from Ivona was out of character, and we instantly knew something had happened to her. This kind of statement is often seen from families of missing people who know their love one the best and know that they would not just ignore

them or fail to get in touch. This was how Ivona's family felt, given that she was so close to not only her parents but also her siblings. She had only been in London for a few days, but Ivona had somehow dropped off the radar, and this was certainly odd. Where could she have gone, why would she have disappeared, and how given that she didn't know the city well

and didn't have the means to go elsewhere. Police got involved when they learned that Ivona was missing, and they also had concerns due to the short amount of time that she had been in London. They began an investigation, looking into the few days that Ivona had been in the country. There was hope that they would find something that would indicate where she might have gone or what

might have happened to her. Police knew that she'd started working at a job on King Street in Hammersmith, and so they began looking into this area in particular, Officers were able to obtain CCTV from that location and they did find Ivona on it on the morning of the thirteenth of July, just four days after she'd arrived in London. They saw her wearing dark trousers, a dark green knee length jacket and had a small leather black handbag with her. It reported that Ivona did arrive at work that day

and that she spent the day packing up glasses. After she finished working, Ivona had plans she was supposed to be meeting her friend in Wandsworth at around seven pm that evening. This is where it appeared something had gone wrong. Ivona never turned up to meet her. Police believed that Ivonah would have taken the number two through twenty bus from Hammersmith bus station and had been doing this at

around five pm each night. When she'd finished work. That bus would have taken her to Wandsworth Andale Center, where she would have got off. Police, however, didn't know where on this route Ivonner had disappeared, and so trying to track down any trace of her was extremely difficult. The fact that Ivona had only been in the country four days at this point perplexed the police and made a motive for this disappearance even more elusive. She did not have the means to travel far and she'd only just

settled into life in London, so this seemed unlikely. This left another more sinister outcome. Had a stranger attacktive owner on her way home, or had someone who she was acquainted with attacked her. Either one of these was hard to accept and implied that Ivonna had been hurt or killed. At the time, however, there wasn't much to go on at all, and the investigation into Avona's disappearance soon went cold without much evidence to point to what had happened

to her. It appeared that at the time police were working on the theory that Ivona may have come to some harm, given that there was no contact from her in the time after she went missing, and she hadn't contacted her family. This must have been devastating for Avona's family, who didn't know what had happened and were always just waiting for answers. During the next couple of decades, Ivona's disappearance continued to go unsolved, with little progress being made

due to the lack of evidence. That officers had. In twenty sixteen, the Metropolitan Police made a fresh appeal fifteen years after Ivona went missing. They put up a ten thousand pound reward for anyone who could provide information leading to her whereabouts. Detective Constable Nikola Williams of the Met's Special Casework Investigation Team said, after fifteen years, we have

no choice but to fear the worse for Ivona. We have conducted several appeals over the years, but now fifteen years on hope that someone who was unable to contact us before will be able to assist now. We hope the reward of ten thousand pounds and the courageous words of Ivonna's family will urge someone with that last vital clue to speak to us. Ivonna's father, Jan spoke for her family during this appeal, stating we have endured fifteen years of utter heartache. Ivona was excited to be visiting

London to see friends and improve her English language. She was in constant contact with her family and adored her brother and sister. No contact from Ivona was out of character and we instantly knew something had happened to her. Someone took her from us. All those years ago, and

we need answers to move on with our lives. Today, January twenty second is a Vona's birthday, and she should be celebrating turning thirty six instead of celebrating we have spent fifteen years longing to hear from our lovely daughter. A description of Ivonna was also published with the hope that someone may remember her. The description stated that she was white, five foot two inches tall, with light brown,

curly shoulder length hair, and a slim build. There was hope that this reward would encourage someone to come forward with information, particularly after all these years. If someone had been too scared to come forward at the time, they may have felt more able to if connections from that time had been broken or they'd moved away from the area and the community. Police have also stated that they

believed Ivona had come to harm. Their theory was that she may have been kidnapped and possibly killed, and this theory had been compounded by the fact that Ivona has never been captured on CCTV since and she has not contacted anyone since she disappeared on July thirteenth. Ivona's case is not the only case of a woman going missing in London while traveling alone. And while Ivona's case has never been officially linked to any other cases, they are

worth looking at. Both of the cases are ones I've previously covered on the podcast, so feel free to have a listen to that episode. Nineteen year old Elizabeth Chow disappeared on the sixteenth of April nineteen ninety nine. She was a student at Thames Valley University and lived in West Ealing. She had dropped off an assignment at the

university before heading to the student union bar. She was last seen on Ealing Broadway at five point fifty pm by a friend that even in After that, however, she disappeared, and to this day, Elizabeth's disappearance is unsolved. In twenty twenty three, serial killer Levi Bellfield reportedly confessed to killing Elizabeth and named a location in West London where he'd hidden her body. Nothing, however, has come from several searches

and digs to find her. In November last year, police stated that they believe Bellfield had lied about the crime and the location he had given them. Another case which is often linked with Elizabeths is that of twenty seven year old Lola Schenkoya in January two thousand, American born Lola got off a boss at Ealing Broadway after finishing work.

She has not been seen since. Both of these cases are often spoken about together due to the proximity that both women were last seen and their seeming connection and to Ealing Broadway. A suspect that is usually spoken about as a person of interest is Andre Karanowski. Kanowski was a prolific sex offender who had committed many rapes in his home country of Poland before traveling over to the UK.

In nineteen ninety seven, he murdered twelve year old Katerina Kanyeva in her home in Hammersmith in London, and was spotted and chased by her father, who returned home and interrupted the attack. Despite having a description of the witness and having hairs and fingerprints from Kanowski at the time, they couldn't connect them to him. He escaped the scene and re emerged in two thousand and two when he lured a Korean student to his home on the premise

that he had somewhere she could rent. When she entered the home, he began choking and sexually assaulting her. The victim managed to escape and told off authorities. Kanowski was then arrested and charged for rape and also the murder

of twelve year old Katerina Konyeva. While they had solid evidence for these crimes, police were also interested in him as a suspect in the disappearance of Elizabeth Chow and Lolashenkoya, given that they disappeared during the period of time between nineteen ninety seven when he murdered Katerina in two thousand and two when he was arrested. Did he have anything

to do with these disappearances. This, some would argue, could also include Ivona Kaminska, given that she disappeared in July two thousand after leaving her workplace in Hammersmith, which is where Kanowski killed Katerina. He was also a Polish immigrant and could have had some connection to the Polish community in Hammersmith during this time. This is unknown and is speculation. It is worth, however, examining all theories in this cold

case disappearance. I'm sure that this is something that police have looked into in the years that Ivona has been missing. Ivona's case is such a sad one, as she had such hope for her future and she was trying to forge a new life for herself in the UK. She had faith in the country, and unfortunately, due to someone's awful actions, she was let down. She had her whole

life ahead of her and this was cut short. Despite the nearly twenty five years since she disappeared, there is always some hope that the case will be solved and Ivona will be located. It just takes the right person to come forward with information. If you know anything about Ivona Kaminska's disappearance in July two thousand, please contact police on one oh one. Our crime stoppers are eight hundred

five ft five one one one. If you want to know more about any of the other cases I've spoken about, you can listen to my episode about Elizabeth Chow and Lola Sheen Koya in the main feed, and also case Filed did a great episode about the crimes of Andre Kanowski which could give you more context. I will link these in the show notes. Thank you for listening to today's episode, and again thanks so much for listening throughout

this month of missing person cases. I'll be back in a few weeks where the usual episodes resume, but I will be taking a few weeks to recover from all these extra episodes. If you'd like to support us further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit

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