The House on the Hill

It was a crisp fall day in Winthrop, Maine, 1986. 34-year-old Brian Kowalczyk drove down Route 133 in a white delivery truck emblazoned with the red Snap-On Tools logo. Brian was a sales rep for the company, and he travelled all over the region selling tools to mechanics—everything from Goodyear Tire centers, to car dealerships, to small, family-run auto-repair shops. After a long day driving around Augusta and outlying rural communities selling tools, collecting payments, and chatting with mechanics, Brian was heading home.

Just before Highway 41, he turned into the long driveway that led to their brand-new house on the property he and his wife, Leeanne, bought in 1984. He slowly made his way up the steep incline of the 300-foot driveway. On top of the hill was their home—a geodesic dome. From the outside, it looked like a giant brown ball. Although it appeared round from a distance, the dome was actually made of triangles fitted together to form the unusually strong, wind-resistant structure.

Energy-efficient geodesic dome homes were something of a fad in the 70s and 80s—energy costs were high and environmentalism was on the rise.

Brian and Leeanne had moved to Winthrop, Maine, when Snap-On assigned Brian to the nearby Augusta region. Winthrop was a peaceful small town. Brian, who had lived in rural areas for most of his life, was, Leeanne said, “notorious about not locking the door.”

The second-floor loft area was covered in a soft, luminous teal-blue carpet and became Leeanne’s sewing room. This loft space was lined with wooden shelves where she kept her supplies. There were two other enclosed rooms on the second floor—a bedroom that Brian used as an office, and a second bathroom. Because these rooms were at the top of the dome, they met the curve of the ceiling.

The couple sat down to have dinner together, reflecting on their recent anniversary—3 years since they had said, “I do,” in October of 1983. Leeanne, who was Brian’s second wife, had been 23, and he was 31.

Plans for the future

Brian had just been promoted, which meant another move for the couple. Leeanne later said, “Every year we had something new in our lives.”

This trend began with a whirlwind romance that started at a Halloween party in 1982. Leeanne was dressed as a sheep and Brian as a cowboy. He had no trouble corralling her. Leeanne described it as “kismet.”

“We knew right away we were right for each other.” She found Brian “intelligent, […] quiet, and laid back” with “a unique sense of humor.” Among the noise and excitement of the party, they flirted and exchanged phone numbers. Leeanne lived in Connecticut, so they, at first, had a long-distance relationship over the phone. Then, Leeanne said, Brian “kidnapped” her to New Hampshire. After just a month of dating they moved in together, and they married the following year.

Leeanne described Brian as “a hard worker.” His father said that, “Anything he tried, he was very good at—better than I was.” From his first summer job, Brian was motivated to make money. He studied business communication in Massachusetts, and settled there. In 1973, at 21, he married his first wife, and in 1974, they had a daughter. Soon after, they divorced. At the time, Brian worked as a collection officer for a loan company.

In 1977, at the age of 25, Brian purchased a Snap-On Tool dealership with a loan cosigned by his father. He was so successful that he was quickly promoted to regional supervisor.

Leeanne described her husband as “pretty quiet and laid back.” But she also said, “He always remembered if someone ran out on a payment. He really knew how to put the thumbscrews down when it came to ‘you pay up’.” When interviewed later by the Kennebec Journal, Leeanne suggested that his intense drive was “a possible weakness.”

On that crisp fall evening in 1986, the couple was at the dinner table discussing Brian’s recent promotion which would require them to move to upstate New York. Leeanne would take the lead and find a suitable home in the area. They wanted “another house on another lake.”

On Thursday, November 6, they departed on their separate journeys during the first snowstorm of the year.

Leeanne drove to Lake George, New York. She spent that day and the next meeting with real estate agents, looking at houses, and shopping for fabric for a dress she wanted to make.

After a long day driving around his Thursday sales route and meeting with clients, Brian returned home, greeted only by the indifference of the cats. A package had come in the mail from Leeanne’s father. He placed it on the kitchen counter, had dinner alone, changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt, and went upstairs.

At 7:30 PM, Brian picked up his office phone and talked to Leeanne.

Home Invasion: The night of Brian’s murder

Just after midnight, in his office surrounded by sales and management awards, Brian was completely absorbed in his work. But something nagged at the corner of his mind. The unwelcome sound of footsteps intruded on his thoughts. Realizing he was not alone in the house, Brian got up and left the room to investigate. His office door opened to the loft area at the top of the stairs.

Brian might have looked down at the intruder and saw they had a gun, or he might have heard the shot before he saw the gun. Did he recognize his attacker, or was he shocked to see a stranger in his home? Either way, he had to think fast—he was trapped.

We do not know exactly how the confrontation ensued, but what we do know is that at least 8 shots were fired by the intruder with a “small-caliber” firearm.

Bullets ricocheted off the slanted ceiling and grazed the natural wood trim on the windows and fell to the ground. Others lodged in the home. One of the bullets hit Brian. It was non-fatal, but he fell down, wounded. There was a struggle between Brian and the intruder at the top of the stairs, and Sofie joined in. The cat was kicked hard between the legs, and though she survived, she struggled to walk in the days following.

The intruder had not only a gun but a knife, too, and began stabbing him repeatedly in a frenzied attack. Finally satisfied that Brian was dead, the intruder descended the stairs. Brian may have still been alive at that point, but he soon died of blood loss from his wounds. Dark red inched across the teal carpet.

The intruder walked out into the cold night air. Their dark form was soon hidden by trees. Behind them, they left the bright rectangle of the open door.

Calls Unanswered

It was 8:30 PM on Friday night—24 hours since she had last spoken to Brian—and Leeanne was trying to reach him.She had found several good candidates for their next home, but the market was hot, and they needed to put in their bid as soon as possible. She wanted him to take a flight down that weekend. When he didn’t pick up, she thought he might have taken a nap. So, she called again later. No answer. Then again. Still, no answer. She called every 30 minutes, and now she was worried.

By 11:00PM, Leanne was desperate, so she called the police to check on Brian—at a minimum, to see if his van was parked in the driveway. She feared he might have gotten into an accident.

Winthrop PD drove up the long, dark driveway to the dome. Brian’s Snap-On truck was parked there, and, according to the Kennebec Journal, “part-time officer, Adrian Turcotte, […] found the doors open and the lights on,” but no one answered when he yelled to see if anyone was home.

Turcotte called his supervisor, Winthrop PD Sergeant Kenneth Grimes, who arrived within minutes. Kenneth yelled, announcing his presence. There was no answer. He walked around the home, checking each room. Other than the open door, nothing seemed out of place except the sound of his boots. There was no one downstairs, so he began to climb the narrow black-metal spiral staircase in the middle of the room. he reached the loft, his fears were confirmed. At 11:30PM, Ken found Brian’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood. Years later, Ken would say, “I remember the details of that evening vividly. It’s one of those things that get imprinted [on you].”

Police Investigation

Winthrop PD alerted the Maine State Police, and they worked together to investigate the scene.

Brian lay where he had been shot wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt. A bullet hole in the wall a few inches above his slumped form was surrounded by splattered blood and tissue. There were obvious signs of a violent struggle. “[The police] said that whoever stabbed him, stabbed him until they were exhausted.” Walls and doors were dented by bullets, and 8 spent shell casings were found near the body, the farthest, 30 feet from Brian. One bullet was found in the loft near the body.

They cut out a 2-foot by 3-foot section of the blood-soaked carpet and took it as evidence, along with a piece of the ceiling from the adjacent room, a part of the balcony wall, a wall-mounted plaque, and a single hair from a piece of art hung in the loft. According to the Kennebec Journal, fingerprints were found at the scene.

There was no sign of forced entry. Robbery did not seem to be a motive. Brian was still wearing his Rolex and there was between $500 and $1,600 in cash and checks that were either in his work pants or on the bedroom table. However, Brian’s wallet was missing and was never found. His credit cards were not used after his death, and Leeanne said Brian didn’t carry cash in his wallet. So why take the wallet, and nothing else? What was the killer looking for?

A small amount of snow clung to the grassy clearing surrounding the house, and the police photographed footprints leading away from it.

The medical examiner estimated the time of death to be very early on Friday morning—just after midnight. The lights had still been burning when the police arrived on Friday night, suggesting that they had remained on for 24 hours since the evening prior. Brian had been shot once, and stabbed numerous times in the head, abdomen, and chest. He died of blood loss from the combined injuries.

Of the hundreds of people questioned, Sgt. Kenneth Grimes interviewed about 70: Brian’s neighbors, all the customers on his route, and people in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York. He drove all over New England, picking up every detail he could. It was the first murder in town in decades, and Kenneth said, “I hope Winthrop never has another.”

Because it was the 80s, police had to address rumors about “satanic cult involve[ment],” but found “no indication” of it.

There were also rumors that Brian or Leeanne was having an affair. Soap opera plots circulated, and police pursued every lead they could.

Tips were sought from anyone who had driven past the property on Thursday night or Friday, and a week later, on November 13, a roadblock was set up between 7:00PM Thursday to 6:00PM Friday. This way, police could question people who routinely travelled that route.

Townspeople initially feared a killer was on the loose, but as time went on, those fears were forgotten, and people went on with their lives.

Leeanne Kowalczyk Alone

Although some viewed Leeanne with suspicion, she had little to gain from Brian’s death. The couple’s savings and Brian’s life insurance payout were small. Since Brian was the breadwinner, Leeanne became poorer—not richer—and had to sell the house.

Leeanne continued to live there, though, at least part of the time, until May, 1987—just over 6 months after the murder.Stephen Lamb interviewed her there for the Kennebec Journal the day before she moved. He found she “radiat[ed] nervous energy.” Leeanne admitted she smoked “too many cigarettes” and drank “too much coke.” Throughout the interview, she alternately expressed fear, anger, and confusion. Without Brian, she said, “I feel as if I'm out of control—that my ballast or stability is gone.”

She told the reporter how much she loved her late husband and expressed frustration at the rumors circulating around town about her having an affair with their friend, Eric. Her grief seemed to include a desire for revenge. She spoke of “an eye for an eye,” and said that “[the killer’s] prized possession should be taken away [too] […] — [even] if it’s his 3-year-old daughter… go for it.”

Once the house sold, Leeanne moved to Norwalk, Connecticut to be near her parents, and she worked in New York City.

Though police looked carefully at Leanne, they ruled her out as the killer because she had an alibi.

Family Left Without Answers

Brian’s sister, 13 years after the murder, in 2000, published a letter in the Kennebec Journal asking the public for tips and included her personal email. She wrote, “Somewhere out there, someone thinks he has gotten away with murder and, so far, he has. […] This is a plea to whomever might know something and doesn't feel comfortable talking to the police.”

Brian’s father died in 1998. His sister, Nancy-Jean, said, “the death certificate said heart attack, […] [but] I think he died of a broken heart, because he and my brother were very close.”

7 years after the murder, the Kennebec Journal sent reporter Ann Stifter to Connecticut to interview Leeanne. She found the widow “Smoking Salem Ultra Lights and listening to New Age music” in her condominium. Her cat, Sofie, the only living witness to the crime, was still with her.

Leeanne had previously denied that Brian was involved with drugs or other illegal activity, but 7 years later, she said, “there’s every possible chance. If you sit back and think about it, why else was he killed?” She also echoed his mother’s earlier suggestions that his murder could have been “customer-related.”

Other than fingerprints, it has been hinted at that there is physical evidence in the case that could someday lead to answers. What that evidence consists of is undisclosed.

Leeanne eventually remarried, became an art teacher, moved to North Carolina, and died of a heart attack in 2010, at the age of 50.

Brian’s sister and parents have passed.

Brian’s daughter never knew why her father was murdered, or who killed him.

This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, The Unsolved Case of Brian Kowalczyk. To hear Brian’s full story, find Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.

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Sources For This Episode

Mentioned in this episode: Harry Kirby, Part one and Part two

Newspaper articles

Various articles from Evening Express, Journal Tribune, Kennebec Journal, Lewiston Daily Sun, Morning Sentinel, and the Sun Journal, here.

Written by various authors including Ann Stifter, Betty Adams, Charles Coolidge, Gary Remal, Jeff Beebe, Nan Alexander, Nancy-Jean Cusanelli, Stephen R. Lamb, and Tom Farkas.

Online written sources

'Brian Kowalczyk was murdered in his Winthrop home on November 7, 1986, and…' (Portland Public Library Digital Commons), 11/7/1993

'Stanley John Kowalczyk' (Find A Grave), 3/23/2010

'Leeanne Fidele Grimes' (Wilmington Funeral & Cremation), 8/25/2010

'Brian S. Kowalczyk' (Find A Grave), 2/21/2011

'Police: Hunt for killer not a cold case' (Portland Press Herald), 11/6/2011, by Betty Adams

'Unsolved: Winthrop murder remains a mystery' (Masthead Maine), 11/6/2011, by Betty Adams

'Claire Theresa Lizotte Kowalczyk' (Find A Grave), 2/17/2013

'Nancy-Jean Cusanelli' (Stringer Funeral Home), 11/5/2018

'MAINE STATE POLICE UNSOLVED HOMICIDE BRIAN KOWALCZYK' (Maine State Police Facebook), 11/6/2018

'ME - Brian Kowalczyk, 34, Winthrop, Kennebec County, 6 Nov 1986' (Web Sleuths), 11/7/2018

'Unsolved Homicides Kowalczyk, Brian' (Maine State Police), 10/15/2021

'Farmington, ME Area Cold Cases' (Spot Crime), 6/28/2022

'345 ME 133, Winthrop, ME 04364' (Realtor.com), 11/10/2023

'345 ME-133' (Maine Listings), 11/10/2023

Photos

Photos as credited above.

Credits

Research, vocal performance, and audio editing by Kristen Seavey

Research, photo editing, and writing support by Byron Willis

Additional research by Samantha Coltart, Sam Wood and Amanda Connolly

Writing by Anne Young

Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey.