Police are investigating the death of Krzysztof Wojcik, 58, who was found Sunday in his apartment on Golden Court. Krzysztof Wojcik’s wife Danuta was found unconscious in the apartment and is being treated for undisclosed injuries at St. Mary’s Hospital. RA ARCHIVE

NAUGATUCK — A day after police discovered the body Krzysztof Wojcik and his unconscious wife, Danuta, in the couple’s home on Golden Court a slew of questions remain unanswered.

Police responded to 24 Golden Court, a multi-family house, at about 12:20 p.m. Sunday, after a friend of the couple reported that the Wojciks had not been heard from for a week. According to police, responding officers had to force their way into the apartment, and found Krzysztof Wojcik, 58, dead in the bedroom with no visible injury.

Danuta Wojcik, 61, was found unconscious and taken to St. Mary’s Hospital. She was listed in critical condition Sunday night.

On Monday afternoon, Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Robert Harrison said Danuta Wojcik’s condition improved slightly, but that she was unable to speak.

Harrison said talking with her will be a key component of the investigation, but that he didn’t know when she would be able to speak with police.

Police are hopeful that the autopsy of Krzysztof Wojcik’s body will provide some answers. The autopsy was originally scheduled for today, but was pushed back until tomorrow due to an influx of bodies into the state’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, Harrison said.

Exactly what the autopsy will tell may not be known for several weeks.

Harrison explained there are two parts of an autopsy, the physical examination, which examines signs of trauma on the body. He said the results of the physical examination would be known quickly because a detective will be on hand during the autopsy.

Harrison declined to disclose whether there were any signs of physical trauma on Krzysztof Wojcik’s body at the scene.

The second part of the autopsy is laboratory work such as a blood analysis.

The results of the laboratory work can take a couple of weeks to a month to be completed, Harrison said.

Police believe the Wojciks, who have no known relatives in the U.S., were the only ones living in the house at the time.

As police continue to search for the answers to this case, Harrison said one thing’s for sure, the incident was isolated and the public is safe.

“It’s an isolated incident. The public has nothing to fear,” Harrison said. “We’re very confident with that.”

As of this post the incident remained under investigation, and no further details were available.

PROSPECT — An 88-year-old woman died in a fire that consumed her home at 62 Summit Road Wednesday morning.

Alice Ostapko lived alone in the two-story clapboard house, which was gutted. She is the first person to die in a fire in Prospect in at least two decades.

A firefighter suffered minor smoke inhalation while battling the fire, which was reported at 7:11 a.m., but he was not hospitalized, fire officials said.

Mayor Bob Chatfield, who is also assistant fire chief, was on scene within one minute of the call. He was joined by 50 members of the 70-member volunteer fire department.

“When we arrived on the scene, fire had not broken out yet,” Chatfield said. “There was smoke coming out of the shingles and eaves, then a window let go and the entire house went up in flames.”

Fire engulfed the house and attic. A hole had burned through the first floor from the basement.

Chatfield said there was a lot of “clutter” in the house that initially prevented firefighters from locating Ostapko, whose body was found in a doorway between the kitchen and a room on the side of the house.

A breezeway connects the two-bedroom house to a one-car garage. A maroon-colored Buick was in the driveway.

Firefighters had the fire under control within 40 minutes, but were still attacking hot spots at around 10 a.m. Firefighters also cut a hole in the roof to vent gases.

Fire melted the sides of the home’s entrance, and blackened the stairs leading to the front door. Burnt armchairs and other pieces of furniture were placed on patches of ice in the front yard.

Prospect Mayor and Assistant Fire Chief Bob Chatfield discusses Wednesday's fire with a state police investigator; a home at 62 Summit Road caught fire early Wednesday morning and claimed one life.

Fire Marshal Keith Griffin said the fire started in a small dining room on the first floor. The fire was accidental, but the cause is undetermined, he said.

A portion of Summit Road was closed while Griffin, aided by state fire marshals, investigated the cause of the fire. One lane was open by noon, and it was fully open by 2 p.m.

The Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of Ostapko’s death.

Chatfield said Ostapko’s grandson, who lives in Massachusetts, was coming to Prospect on Wednesday. The grandson told Chatfield that his grandmother slept in the living room on the first floor.

Though it has not been determined, it appears from where her body was found she was trying to get out of the house, fire officials said.

“There was a problem accessing her because of the collection of stuff in the house,” Chatfield said.

He said Ostapko was well known around town. Her husband and son died years ago.

“I saw her [often] at the Dairy Bar,” Chatfield said of the popular restaurant on Route 69. “She got her hair done at the salon where my wife works. It’s like losing a grandmother.”

Daniel Gugliotti, a friend of Ostapko’s who lives in Waterbury, stood outside her home around 10:30 a.m. He said he had called her Tuesday to check on her, and she told him she was doing all right. Gugliotti said he drove Ostapko to the doctor’s office or grocery store and other places.

Ostapko ate at the Dairy Bar at least four times a week, and sometimes twice a day, said Carol Jones, the restaurant’s owner.

Ostapko, a customer for 26 years, would sit either on the same stool at the counter or in a booth by the front door, she said. She would order soup; her favorite was chicken tortellini, she said. She described Ostapko as a happy person who was active and independent.

They shared laughs, too. When she gave Ostapko a ride home, Ostapko had to use a milk crate to step into Jones’ large SUV, she said.

Ostapko loved Jones’ cook, Dave DeBiase, and called him a sweetheart, she said.

“She was just a real nice lady,” DeBiase said. “What a shame. We will miss her.”

He said he may suggest dedicating the stool in Ostapko’s name.

Ostapko served for more than five years on the board of the Greater Waterbury Transit District, said Dr. Yvonne Denise Smith-Isaac, board chairman. Ostapko, who used to be a nurse at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, oversaw transportation for the elderly and disabled, she said.

Ostapko was interested in making sure there was transportation for those in Prospect, and she liked helping people, Smith-Isaac said.

“Once she found someone who needed help, she would help them,” Smith-Isaac said.

Seventeen-year-old Angelina Jamele was arrested today for the Oct. 1 killing of grandmother Italia Liguori at 88-5 Lantern Park Drive.

Seventeen-year-old Angelina Jamele was charged today with the murder of Liguori. She was previously being held in a secure Department of Children and Families facility where she underwent a psychiatric evaluation. When she was cleared for court appearance, the arrest warrant was served.

Jamele will be arraigned at Waterbury Superior Court on a $750,000 bond.

Details will be posted here as they are made available to Citizen’s News.

At 11:42 p.m. on Sept. 7, medical responders discovered Julie Swoszowski, 31, on the living room floor of her ex-boyfriend’s house at 65 Village Circle; she was bleeding profusely from her neck and throat and was struggling to breathe. An ambulance transported her to Waterbury Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police found Julie Swoszowski's car smashed into the garage of her ex-boyfriend's home at 65 Village Circle, where they also discovered the 31-year-old woman bleeding from stab wounds. Swoszowski died from her injuries. The Office of the Chief Medical examiner confirmed Friday that her death was a suicide.

In a statement released the next day, the Naugatuck Police Department said a preliminary investigation by its detective division and the State Police Major Crime unit indicated “the stab wounds may have been self-inflicted.” Police also found Swoszowski’s Volkswagon Jetta smashed into the garage of the home, which is owned by Paul Ayoub, 47.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which said initially it could take as many as 12 weeks to determine whether Swoszowski’s death was a suicide, confirmed to Citizen’s News Friday that it was. NPD spokesman Lt. Robert Harrison was not on duty Friday, and a phone message left with a detective was not immediately returned.

Swoszowski was a 1996 graduate of Wolcott High School and earned two bachelor of science degrees from Teikyo Post University, one in 2001 and another in 2003. According to her father, John Swoszowski, she was supposed to start class Sept. 8 at Southern Connecticut State University, where she was working toward a master’s degree in speech pathology.

Julie Swoszowski was active in the field of holistic medicine. Her family said she was certified as an energy instructor, reflexologist and Chinese herbologist; she was also a reiki and shamballa master teacher, a trained meridian therapy practitioner, and an aroma therapist.

A friend who used to work with Sowszowski at CT Safe Home described her as “sweet,” and said, “She loved children. She was really into holistic health and was just a really positive person.”

Ayoub, an accredited holistic health counselor, called Swoszowski “a very spiritual person” and added, “She’s with the angels, for sure.”

“We’re doing all sorts of prayer ceremonies to try to release her spirit,” he said.

The former resident of that unit, 69-year-old Italia Liguori, was plucked from the vine before her rightful time when she was killed last week.

The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported that Liguori died of blunt force head trauma and asphyxiation; the evidence suggests she was beaten and choked to death in the Oct. 1 incident.

Police have a warrant that is yet to be served for an unnamed relative who they say lived in the condo with Ligouri. The Republican-American has reported that friends and neighbors said 17-year-old Angelina Jamele, Liguori’s granddaughter, was the only person living in the condo with her.

Police have not released additional information or officially named Jamelet, but they have said the suspect is  being held in a secure Department of Children and Families facility until cleared for a court appearance.

Neighbors and friends said Jamele has struggled with drug addiction and that she and Liguori often argued to a degree that necessitated police intervention.

The killing comes in the wake of last month’s suicide by Wolcott resident Julie Swoszowski in the borough and the brutal murder of medical student Annie Le on the campus of Yale University in New Haven. There was also a shot fired in Lantern Park last month, but no one was hurt in that episode.

The majority of Lantern Park and Pondside residents interviewed, however, didn’t feel that Liguori’s killing was a sign of an overarching pattern—they felt it was an isolated incident.

“It’s quiet here,” said Kristi Serrano of building 66.

Adam Mastronunzio, who said he knows Jamele, echoed this sentiment, adding “Once in a while we get those crazy people that move in—and that’s when stuff [such as the killing] happens.”

Mastronunzio confirmed that Jamele had been mixed up in drug abuse.

Delilah Scott, who lives across from building 88 with her bedridden mother, said she still feels safe in the complex, too. She’s never seen violence in the streets or any indication of major crime in the area.

Jamele is just “one teenager gone bad,” she said, and not a microcosm of the community at large.

Scott even said the incident created a sense of unity among residents, who stood outside last Thursday to watch as police cruisers and news crews swarmed the area.

One resident, Sandra Lopes of 88-7 Lantern Park Drive, two doors down from Liguori’s unit, feels differently.

“I don’t feel very safe here,” she said. “There are a lot of things around here that are not too good … I really don’t like it—especially for my kids.”

The mother of two cited drug use as her biggest qualm about the neighborhood.