u/Tiszarek

This is a case that didn’t receive a great deal of media attention at the time, due mainly to happening at the same time as coronavirus and during a period of intense political discussion where it happened. I haven’t seen it covered much online so I thought I’d do a full write up with everything we know.

Éloi Jean Rolland is from Montpellier, France and was born on the 1st of October 2001. There isn’t a great deal of information about his early life publicly available, however he studied at school until the age of around 18, prior to planning a trip abroad. In September 2019 he moved to New Zealand to learn English, and enrolled in an English language school in Auckland. He was described by his family as being very into sports, especially hiking and sailing, and was interested in nature. As part of his studies he was living with a host family (relatively common on foreign exchange trips) and was living in Birkenhead, a suburb of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand.

Initially, his trip is described as going well. He loved the scenery of New Zealand, was making friends, and had found a part time job working in hospitality. He was especially interested in the West coat, especially the town of Piha, and had promised his mother he would bring her back a sample of sand from the beach at Piha (Piha is famous for having black volcanic sand on the beach).

However, towards the end of 2019 it’s described that his life began to unravel somewhat. He developed a romantic attachment to a fellow student, which was unrequited and she also had a boyfriend. When this boyfriend also travelled to New Zealand Éloi’s mental state was described as deteriorating further. He also became increasingly paranoid, and began frequently talking about conspiracy theories and developed a fascination with the coronavirus, which was beginning to make news headlines at around this time. His English teacher was so concerned about his mental state that she recommended he return to France early. He also lost two jobs in hospitality, one of which because he allegedly began running around the restaurant during service shouting that he was infected with coronavirus. His family were so concerned about him that they brought his return to France forward, from May 2020 to 21st March 2020.

On the 7th March 2020 (around two weeks prior to his flight back to France) Éloi left his host family’s house in Birkenhead before dawn sometime prior to 0500hrs (sunrise is around 0700hrs in May) and at 0500hrs he searched Google Maps for directions to Piha. He then took a bus to Auckland city centre at 0546hrs, before boarding a train at Britomart (Auckland’s central transport hub) to Fruitvale Road Station in West Auckland sometime between 0630hrs and 0700hrs. He was seen on CCTV at this time and was wearing a blue and white hoodie, blue jeans, brown walking boots, and carrying a small black backpack. He arrived at Fruitvale Road Station at 0726hrs (half an hour after sunrise).

Following this, there are no more confirmed sightings of Éloi, and it is believed he began walking to Piha. Fruitvale Road Station to Piha town is an extensive walk, Google Maps shows it as being over 25km long and taking around 6hrs. However police later stated they had been able to get a single phone location for him at around 0900hrs in the Waitakere Ranges on Piha Road, around 11km from the station at Fruitvale Road.

This is somewhat interesting, as it meant Éloi was able to cover 11km in around 1h46m, which is possible for an active 18 year old, but would be considerably faster than normal walking pace. Additionally, having driven the route many times, it would not be an easy walk, it is very hilly and the road can be pretty unsafe and winding. Piha Road comes off from scenic drive and goes through the Waitakere Ranges, with virtually nothing in between Auckland and Piha.

On the 10th March 2020 when Éloi did not return, his host family reported him missing. This 3 day gap may seem strange, but Éloi was an adult and was paying to be in New Zealand as a student/working holiday, so his host family did not have any responsibility or duty of care towards him. It appears they assumed he had travelled elsewhere for a couple of nights as he had done previously, but became concerned when he did not contact them. Additionally, Éloi’s family were also unaware he was missing immediately as they were on the other side of the world in France.

The location he went missing in is likely relevant to this story in some way. Piha is a beautiful coastal town on the West coast of New Zealand. It is relatively small with a population of around 800 people in 2020. As stated, the beach is famous both in New Zealand and internationally as it consists of black volcanic sand, has huge rock formations/islands, and is surrounded by dense fern forests and hills on all sides. It is a popular tourist destination, and is very popular with surfers. However, the beach at Piha is known to be exceptionally dangerous, multiple people have lost their lives there due to strong currents and unpredictable waves, and entering the water is only recommended for experienced surfers. I have personally stood knee deep in the water at Piha beach, and even in water that shallow you can feel the current pulling you out to sea. I also saw the beach lifeguards training there recently, and even they were struggling to get back to shore after being dropped off at sea by jetski for training. Piha can also have quite a transient population, while it’s thought of as being a relatively safe place for families and individuals camping, it is very isolated from the city and has no police station or other permanent public services. It is popular with surfers, people travelling in campervans, and people who just generally want to escape society for a bit. It’s quite common to find groups of people camping overnight in vans and smoking cannabis on the beach or getting drunk, however this is generally not viewed as problematic and the town has a very low crime rate.

The Waitakere Ranges are the forested hills around Piha and West of Auckland. They are incredibly dense bush/forest consisting of ferns, kauri trees, and low level brush. The vegetation is very thick, and there are almost no trails going through it. I have only been in once on a trail, and it would be very easy to get lost in the forest - due to the vegetation you would only have to go a few metres from the road or a path before completely losing sight of the outside world. Wildlife isn’t much of a threat as there are no predators in New Zealand capable of harming humans, and only one spider which isn’t usually fatal anyway. The Waitakere Ranges are huge however, and very sparsely populated. The only other settlement near where he went missing is Karekare, which is less visited than Piha and much smaller.

After Éloi was reported missing and the police were able to track a phone location on Piha Road, the police began a large scale search. Between March and May the police searched as much forest as possible, committing more than 1600hrs and covering a huge area. Their efforts were hampered however by the location. Due to the forest canopy, helicopters or drones became useless, and any scent left by Éloi that a dog could’ve tracked would have been quickly disrupted by vegetation and other wildlife. The search proved fruitless, with the only thing that was found being a t-shirt located near to Karekare that was tested and confirmed not to belong to him, with a local resident later claiming it after having lost it previously. There were no other witnesses who had seen him, no CCTV evidence, and none of his belongings were located anywhere on the route. Additionally, he had not made any contact with anyone, and the last location his phone could be tracked at is not necessarily even the end of his journey - it occurred at about the same place he would’ve lost connection to an Auckland phone mast as there is no service at all in the Waitakere Ranges.

The timing of his disappearance made things incredibly difficult for his family too. Éloi disappeared at the same time that global lockdowns occurred, with New Zealand being particularly strict on travel bans meaning they weren’t allowed to fly to Auckland to join in the search for him. Due to ongoing difficulties enforcing covid restrictions and general crime increases the police were also able to commit less resources to the search (as well as issues with staff sickness). Additionally, news coverage relating to Éloi’s disappearance was also relatively minor compared to other similar cases, due to the majority of the reporting being about covid.

The two main theories about what happened are that Éloi either committed suicide, or died due to an accident in the forest on his way to Piha.

The suicide theory is often discussed as being the most likely. It is known that Éloi was increasingly struggling with his mental state, and although he planned to return to France shortly afterwards he was likely aware that a travel ban to prevent this may have been imminent. Another piece of evidence people point to as being indicative of suicide is that the day before he left, Éloi posted a photo of a black square on his Facebook page. It has been suggested that this was an indication that he was planning to take his own life. However, there is no other obvious indication that he was planning to do this. It’s been suggested that he took a ligature with him in his bag, and found a secluded location in the forest to end his life, but this is just a theory. Additionally, Éloi had made plans to imminently return to France, he had a flight booked, and had even begun packing. He had promised his mother he would bring her back a small jar of sand from Piha as a memento, which would give a reason for him to be travelling there (as well as him having expressed previous interest in visiting and it being a popular travel destination). Him posting the black square on his social media is strange - originally I thought it may have been related to the social media movement of posting a black square in support of BLM, which was common in 2020 globally, however this didn’t begin as a trend until events in May of 2020, so it seems unlikely. His social media doesn’t show much in the way of other posts, and all his other profile pictures appear to be relatively normal selfies and such. His family do not support the suicide theory. Additionally, if he was planning to walk to Piha it would make sense for him to leave as early in the morning as he did, he would need to get public transport across the city and then walk for 6hrs, making his early start not irregular.

The other theory is that he entered the forest for some reason, and either got lost and died of exposure, or had some kind of accident resulting in his injury or death. This is the theory of one of the lead investigators Detective Inspector McNeill who stated “My thoughts are still the bush. He’s potentially tried to take a shortcut to the beach and didn’t realise how far that would be, and over-estimated his abilities. It’s pretty gnarly in there. Is it possible he’s just thought, ‘Well, I think it’s a straight line down here, shouldn’t be a problem,’ and maybe he’s come to grief in the bush somewhere.” This would certainly be very plausible, from Piha Road there are multiple bends in the road that provide a beautiful view down to the beach and coastline, and it doesn’t look very far from the road despite being kilometres of steep downhill and dense forest. He may also have entered the forest for another reason - to take photographs or use the bathroom only to lose track of the road and become lost, wandering further in as he tried to escape. Once he was a few hundred metres from the road it would be virtually impossible to find his way out again, and it likely wouldn’t be long before he died of an accident, injury, or dehydration. As stated, the search area would be huge, and the police didn’t even have a specific area to search, meaning it’s very unlikely he would ever be found. If he were deceased there, his remains would be quickly disrupted by wildlife and vegetation, making it even less likely he would be found.

It is also possible he made it to Piha and then died after entering the sea. He had planned to go to Piha beach, however in my opinion having been to the area it is possibly unlikely that no witnesses would have seen him. There is only one road in and out of Piha, and it is relatively commonly used. Somebody walking on the road would also be notable - they would have to be walking in the road because there is no pavement and it would be strange to see someone walking (as stated it’s a 6hr and 25km walk from West Auckland to Piha). Additionally, the town is usually somewhat busy with surfers and tourists, and if he left Auckland just before 0800hrs he would be arriving in Piha at around 1400hrs on a Saturday, which is about the time Piha would’ve been busiest. And while an 18 year old tourist would not necessarily stand out in Piha, it seems unlikely that nobody would’ve even contacted the police with a sighting.

Following his disappearance, things became more complicated, as there was at least some suspicion that Éloi was alive for a period of time (possibly up to 5 months, although the police have not confirmed this). Éloi’s social media pages continued to be logged in to and active following his disappearance, and while his profile picture was changed to the black square photo the day before he disappeared, this has now been changed back to an older profile picture. Additionally, his friends also reported that his Instagram account was still ‘liking’ and interacting with their posts for weeks after he was reported missing. His Facebook account was also logged in to and intermittently active during this period, and perhaps the most interesting detail is that his Facebook page ‘liked’ the page for the Auckland Police while they were actively searching for him. This could be explained as someone having access to his accounts, or him still being logged on an old device which was then taken and used by someone else, but some believe the fact it went on for up to 5 months makes this unlikely. Additionally, there was activity in Australia on his PayPal account after he disappeared, but details of this are not known. The Police did investigate this, but have not released publicly their findings.

Another detail that further adds to the mystery is that a witness in the town of Te Anau contacted police to state that she was certain she had spoken to Éloi in person in Te Anau on the 12th March 2020, 5 days after he went missing. She stated she was working in a holiday park at the time (Te Anau is also a popular holiday destination), and was approached by a French man who was 18 years of age. The witness was also French, and stated they began talking to each other because of this. During this conversation she states the man told her he was from the south of France, told her he was in New Zealand on an exchange program to learn English, his birthday was on the 1st of October, and strongly resembled Éloi. Importantly the witness states she remembers this man because he told her his middle name was Jean, which was the same name as her grandfather. All of these details match up with Éloi. He was 18 years old, from Montpellier in the south of France, was French and on an exchange trip to learn English, he was born on the 1st of October, and his middle name was Jean. The witness states that this man was travelling in a white car with another male, but she didn’t get a good enough look at the car or the other man to provide any information on this. After seeing photos of Éloi the witness was convinced the man she had spoken to that day was Éloi.

This stands out as a strange sighting, and would also be a strange sighting to fake if it was a hoax. Te Anau is in the very south of the South Island of New Zealand, whereas Piha is in the north of the North Island. They are at almost opposite ends of the country, and to get between the two would either involve a flight, or a drive of around 1700km and 24hrs of driving, as well as a ferry crossing. The flight seems unlikely - passports are not always needed for domestic flights, but with Éloi not being a New Zealand citizen he wouldn’t have any other form of identification on him, so he would have had to use his passport. While the drive would of course be possible in 5 days, it is not an easy route, and the ferry crossings would slow down the journey further. In theory, a drive would be possible to do discreetly, identification isn’t always checked on the Interislander ferries, and Éloi could’ve either hidden somewhere covertly in the car for the roughly 4hr crossing, or simply not had his ID checked when buying a ticket and boarding. The police did look in to this lead, and considered it credible but unverifiable. Police (as well as Éloi’s family when they were able to visit) conducted investigations in Te Anau, but were ultimately unable to identify the vehicle, the other male, or any CCTV or other evidence of Éloi being present. Ultimately, it’s considered a possible sighting, but cannot be confirmed.

Following this, there have not been any further sightings or credible witnesses that have seen Éloi, and his social media became inactive around 5 months after his disappearance. He is still classified as a missing person (although his family have stated the New Zealand coroner’s office contacted them to inform them his status may soon be changed to ‘missing, presumed dead’) and his family are still searching for answers. Anyone with any information is advised to contact the Waitematā Police District of New Zealand Police by calling 105 (+64 international calling code) and quoting missing person file reference 200310/8987.

Sources:

New Zealand Police missing persons page: https://www.police.govt.nz/missing-persons/listings/eloi-rolland

English news article: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/eloi-rolland-parents-of-missing-french-teen-return-to-new-zealand/

2025 English news article:

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360759600/parents-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-take-search-south-island

French news article: https://www.humanite.fr/medias/documentaire/quest-il-arrive-a-eloi-rolland-enquete-sur-un-adolescent-disparu-au-bout-du-monde

Recent NZ article: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360759600/parents-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-take-search-south-island

So this is a case relatively local to me that hasn’t been discussed in great detail online and has had a few updates recently, so I thought I’d do a full write up here.

Mateusz Kawecki was a man from a small village in South Eastern Poland called Hutkow. It is a very small farming settlement, with the nearest main town being Zamosc, around a 25 minute drive or 5 hour walk to the North. In March of 2018, Mateusz was 30 years old and living in Hanover, Germany with his father, working as a construction worker. Mateusz had a long distance relationship with his fiancee, who lived in Lipia Gora in North West Poland. His fiancee was pregnant with his child, and was close to her due date.

On March 28th 2018, Mateusz was planning to drive from Hanover to go and stay with his girlfriend in Lipia Gora for the birth of their child. This is a trip of just over 600km and should’ve taken Mateusz just under 7 hours to complete. It was a drive he had done before, and is not considered a bad route other than occasional traffic around the German border. To avoid this, Mateusz had begun his drive at 2330hrs, hoping to have already passed the built up areas by the morning rush hour. He should’ve arrived at around 0800-0900hrs the following day in Lipia Gora. Mateusz’ car was a blue 1998 BMW 525, which would be somewhat distinctive and somewhat of an enthusiasts car in 2018. Mateusz said goodbye to his father and began the drive.

At around 1030am the following day Mateusz’ father hadn’t heard from him, so he called Mateusz to check on him. Mateusz answered, and told his father he had been caught in extensive traffic on the German border and had only made it as far as Szczecin, a town just over the border in Poland. This is around 450km from his start point in Hanover, and should’ve only taken around 5hrs. The German-Polish border is not staffed and people are free to move between the countries, but there are CCTV and automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras in use over the main highways. At the same time as this, Mateusz texted his fiancee, telling her that he would be in Lipia Gora in around 2hrs. This matches up with him being in Szczecin, which is slightly over 2 hours from Lipia Gora. This was the last time Mateusz’ family would hear from him.

That evening, when Mateusz did not arrive his fiancee became concerned. At around 1700hrs on the 29th March she rang Mateusz’ sister Katarzyna who lived in Hutkow, to ask if they had heard anything, to which Katarzyna said they had not. A few hours afterwards, Mateusz’ mother contacted the police in Poland to report him as missing, but they discouraged her from officially filing a report as Mateusz was a grown man who had contacted his family just a few hours ago, and they believed he had likely just had a vehicle breakdown or been caught in traffic again, and would turn up. However in the following days there was still no sign of Mateusz, so his family reported him as missing in both Germany and Poland.

At the beginning the investigation was incredibly slow. Both German and Polish police couldn’t agree on who should be leading the investigation, as Mateusz was a Polish national but living in Germany, and it was unknown which country he had actually gone missing from. German police stated Polish police should be leading the investigation, as in his last contact he had told them he was in Szczecin, but Polish police stated they had no ANPR or CCTV evidence that Mateusz had entered Poland. Mateusz’ phone was also reportedly switched on for a few days after his disappearance, as it rang when his family called, but Polish police couldn’t investigate this as he used a German SIM card and his phone never connected to a Polish network, but German police said they couldn’t track his phone either as the last usage was in Poland not Germany, so there were very conflicting details surrounding his location in the days following his disappearance. Mateusz’ family began scouring the route searching for his car or any sign of him, but found nothing. They also appeared on TV in Germany and Poland appealing for information.

On September 12th 2018 (around 6 months later) a neighbour visited Mateusz’ mother’s home in Hutkow, and asked if he could look in their barn as he had noticed a terrible smell coming from the barn since around mid July and assuming it was a dead animal, he offered to remove it. In the barn, half of it was walled off on the upper level, creating a mezzanine which was visible from the entrance. As they climbed up, they saw what they believed to be a pile of clothing, however on closer inspection they found it to be a decomposed corpse, with a head detached from the torso, and surrounded by a small number of personal items including a backpack. Close to the body they also found two nooses hanging from a rafter.

The police immediately attended and conducted a brief investigation. DNA evidence confirmed the body to be that of Mateusz, and on closer examination they found that his head was detached from the body, with a number of his teeth knocked out and stuck to his clothes with dried blood. In Mateusz’ backpack they found an empty Polish water bottle with cigarette butts in (Mateusz did smoke so this isn’t abnormal), an empty bottle of orange juice (this is considered abnormal as Mateusz’ family stated he hated orange juice and was borderline intolerant of it), and Mateusz’ phone. Mateusz’ phone showed numerous missed calls from his family as was expected, the call to his father on the 29th March (where he said he was in Szczecin), and then one further previously unknown call a day after on the 30th March to his uncle. This call however only lasted around 1 second before it was disconnected, and investigators believed it was likely either an accidental call or was placed from a location with no connectivity.

Police quickly deduced the death to be a suicide and closed the case. His personal items were analysed and no other DNA was found on them. I assume by this they meant that no other unaccounted for DNA was found, as almost all items will have some other people’s DNA on them, be it family, friends, colleagues, even from the police officers who recovered it (although this is unclear from the report). Four days after Mateusz’ body was found in the barn, his family then found one of his detached feet inside a shoe hidden in some hay near to his body, which they believed showed that the Police didn’t search the barn thoroughly, and threw a lot of doubt over the investigation as a whole.

Mateusz’ family continued to appeal to the authorities for further investigation in to his death, and this was done, with police conducting a search of his apartment in Hanover, checking CCTV, and further analysing items found on and around his body. 

Based on receipts found with Mateusz and CCTV evidence police were able to deduce that when Mateusz spoke to his father at 1030hrs on the 29th March 2018 telling him he had crossed the border and was in Szczecin, he actually was not telling the truth and was still in Germany. He had taken a train from Hanover to Frankfurt an der Oder, which is a pleasant border town in Germany, with bridges crossing the river Oder in to Poland. This is a journey time of around 4hrs on a train, and significantly to the south of where he claimed to be. Around 24hrs later on the morning of 30th March Mateusz is then believed to have crossed the border on foot in to Poland using one of the Oder river bridges.

Police state that evening Mateusz checked in to a hotel in Slubice in Poland (literally a 5 minute walk from the bridge he crossed over) with another person. Police have never released any information as to whether they have identified this person, and have also never released any information about this person. Their age, gender, appearance, and demeanour have never been reported (if they are known) and Mateusz’ sister says she doesn’t believe the case can be closed until this person is identified.

The following day on the 31st of March, Mateusz is reported to have taken a train to the Polish capital of Warsaw, a journey of around 5 hours, before then taking a bus to Zamosc (the town I mentioned earlier around 25 minutes away from his hometown and mother’s house in Hutkow). It is unknown why he took a bus, as it is possible to take a train to Zamosc from Warsaw and is notably much faster than the bus route. His bus arrived in Zamosc at around midnight on the 1st April, and that was his last recorded movement before being found in the barn 6 months later. As stated earlier it is possible that he walked from Zamosc to his mother’s house in Hutkow, it would’ve taken him around 5hrs and is a route he would’ve known well as he was familiar with Zamosc (he has social media posts of him being there when he was younger).

There are so many unknowns with this story that I find really interesting:

What happened to his car? While a blue 1998 BMW 525 would not be considered an incredibly nice car in 2018, they do have a small following among collectors and car enthusiasts in Europe, and a blue vintage BMW would stand out somewhat in a city like Hanover. His car has never been located, and nor have the keys. It was presumably moved from his apartment in Hanover at some point, but was not found near Hanover station where he got the first train from, and nor did it ever hit any ANPR cameras in Germany (which has a lot of them). It is possible it was stolen and the plates were changed with Mateusz not being alive to report it as stolen. In my opinion it is unlikely to have been dumped in water anywhere, any of the waterways nearby are relatively shallow and in densely populated areas, it is unlikely to have remained unnoticed to the present day. My best guess is that the car was likely stolen or sold, stripped down for parts which were then shipped to the Balkans, as this used to be very common for older BMWs and Mercedes. But this is just a theory. It again is possible that him or someone else abandoned it and burnt it out somewhere, but this also seems unlikely to me. Germany is very densely populated, and even in a rural area I believe it would've been found by now by a farmer, hiker, fisherman etc.

Why did he go to Frankfurt an der Oder and Slubice that night instead of carrying out his original route? This is perhaps the biggest mystery of the whole story. The towns are not on his route to Lipia Gora and are hundreds of kilometres to the south of where he was planning to be. There has been some suggestion that he was having an affair with someone from that area and was seeing them that night, but this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Mateusz had no connection at all to Slubice (there’s no suggestion he had ever even been), but mainly, why would he arrange to meet someone that same night? If he was trying to keep an affair secret from his long distance fiancee, it makes absolutely no sense that he would arrange to see his affair partner on the same day he has told his fiancee and his entire family that he will be driving to meet them. He would know they would be expecting him and he would know they would likely come looking for him or report him missing. Him and his fiancee were long distance, it would’ve been very easy for him to arrange to see an affair partner basically any other day with little suspicion, it just wouldn’t make sense to do it on the one night his fiancee was expecting to see him.

Additionally, why didn’t he drive to Slubice instead? It would’ve been quicker than taking the train, and if he was planning to meet an affair partner it would’ve made a lot more sense to have his car there so he could get to Lipia Gora the following day more quickly. He also had very little with him travelling on trains and on foot, certainly not enough for the longer trip he had planned to have away. Using his car would’ve let him take much more luggage with him.

Perhaps the most interesting question is who he checked in to the hotel with. When the case was originally reported on this detail was not known, and only came to light later during the second police investigation. The fact that it isn’t reported whether the person was male or female, their age, appearance, and if they even stayed the night or not gives us very little to work with. It’s been suggested as above that it was someone Mateusz was having an affair with, it’s also been suggested that it may have been a prostitute, or someone Mateusz had met that night and had sexual relations with. While 30th March 2018 was a Friday, Slubice is not exactly a busy party town, and Frankfurt an der Oder is only slightly busier. Neither is the kind of town to have nightclubs and bars open late, and neither is known for being rife with sex workers either. They’re both small and peaceful market towns that are more famous for their architecture and history than somewhere to party. Mateusz’ family and friends have also denied this, and stated this would be completely out of character for him and something he had never been known to do before. There is also no indication that it was a woman he checked in with in the first place, it could well have been anyone. And it is telling that his sister keeps requesting for this person to be identified and interviewed - if Mateusz was known to be having an affair or have hired a prostitute this is likely not something his family would’ve wanted to draw more attention to by publicly discussing it and asking the police to investigate further.

Interesting too is the situation in the barn. While Mateusz was found in an advanced state of decomposition, and the neighbour had reported a smell since July, if Mateusz died there at the start of April his family should have noticed him being there. They reported that they used the barn semi frequently throughout the year, and had a clear line of sight to where the nooses were found, meaning they should’ve easily seen him if he was hanging there since April. The head and feet being detached are not of any note, as this often happens when a body is hanging for an extended period of time, however to me the teeth being out and covered in blood seems irregular. It is theoretically possible that when the body decomposed to the point of the head detaching and the body falling, that the head fell at just the right angle to knock some teeth out, but if that occurred the teeth should not have bled due to the level of decomposition. Conversely, if the hanging occurred with enough force to cause decapitation at the moment of hanging, then the body wouldn’t have been suspended long enough for the feet to detach. To me, both can't be true. Either the head detached immediately with enough force to knock teeth out and cause instant bleeding, or the body was hanging for so long that the feet detached, but this would not cause any bleeding when the teeth were knocked out. Also interesting is how Mateusz got there, he could theoretically have walked, and it would’ve been in the very early hours of the morning so he may not have been seen by anyone, or he could’ve hitchhiked. There would’ve been very little traffic however between Zamosc and Hutkow at that time of the morning, so I don't suppose we’ll ever really know.

From reading a lot of posts on Polish forums and online discussion the main theory seems to be that Mateusz had some kind of mental breakdown or panic about imminently becoming a father which led him into undertaking this strange and long journey, lying to his family, and possibly hiring a prostitute or having an affair with someone unknown in Slubice, before he travelled to his hometown and committed suicide. However there is little to indicate this may be the case. He had been with his fiancee for a number of years and they reportedly had a happy and stable relationship. He had been supportive to his fiancee throughout her pregnancy and had made multiple trips to visit her in Lipia Gora throughout the preceding year and was reportedly looking forward to getting married and becoming a father. At the age of 30 he was also a very normal age to be beginning a family. He had a normal upbringing and a close relationship with his sister, mother, and father. His lifestyle and demeanour in the days leading up to his disappearance were reported by all his family to have been completely normal with nothing standing out as being irregular. Him and his father living in Hanover isn't uncommon either, during the 2010s (and in the present day) it is very normal for men of his age to leave rural areas of Poland to find work in Western European cities as jobs are few and far between and pay can be poor in places like Hutkow and Zamosc. He also wasn't super far away from his fiancee, it's only a 6hr drive which is pretty common for couples in Europe. By all accounts he was living a relatively stable and happy life, was paid relatively well and had no issues with alcohol, drugs, or any previous mental health concerns. Also, perhaps I'm reading into things a lot here, but it seems strange to me for him not to have used his car at all. From his social media posts going back some time he seems to have been very fond of it, and if you Google him now a lot of photos of him are either in his car or contain it, it appears that if he was planning to make an unplanned journey at short notice his first thought would have been to drive rather than use public transport.

Ultimately, while it is not ‘unresolved’ in the sense that we don’t know what happened to Mateusz, there are a lot of unknowns in this case. Nothing seems to follow a logical timeline, and indeed Mateusz’ family themselves are still looking for answers and further investigation in to the case. Sadly, unless there any major new developments we likely won’t ever know the full truth about why anything happened in this way.

I have omitted some names of his family and relatives from this post in order to protect their identity, as it is only really his sister who has made public appearances since his death.

Websleuths page: https://websleuths.com/threads/poland-mateusz-kawecki-30-went-missing-on-the-way-to-hospital-to-meet-his-wife-in-labor-found-5-months-later-in-family-barn-missing-28-march-2018.664983/

Interwencja article in 2018 (Polish): https://interwencja.polsatnews.pl/reportaz/2018-09-25/wracal-do-polski-mial-zostac-tata-rodzina-nie-wierzy-w-samobojstwo_1682750/

Write up of events (Polish): https://niewyjasnione-zaginiecia.pl/mateusz-kawecki/

English write up of original events: https://talktolearnesl.com/the-mysterious-death-of-mateusz-kawecki-a-journey-that-ended-in-tragedy/