In late-1980s Poland, the name Mariusz Trynkiewicz became associated with a series of crimes that shocked the country. Later dubbed the “Satan of Piotrków,” Trynkiewicz was a former physical education teacher who had already faced criminal convictions involving sexual offenses against boys before four young victims were murdered in 1988.
His history of offending began during his military service. He was convicted after abducting and sexually assaulting a schoolboy and received a one-year prison sentence, initially suspended for two years. The punishment did not prevent further offending. Only weeks later, he was accused of bringing another boy to his home and sexually abusing him. That case resulted in another prison sentence, which was eventually increased to two and a half years.
His most notorious crimes followed soon after his release.
On July 4, 1988, Trynkiewicz lured 13-year-old Wojciech Pryczek into his apartment. The boy was strangled, and Trynkiewicz subsequently concealed his body in a wooded area.
Later that same month, on July 29, 11-year-old Tomasz Łojek was persuaded to go to Trynkiewicz’s apartment and was killed there.
Two other boys, 12-year-old Artur Krawczyński and Krzysztof Kaczmarek, were also murdered. Their bodies were eventually taken into the woods and burned. They were later discovered by a person searching the area for mushrooms.
The investigation led authorities to Trynkiewicz, and his subsequent trial became one of the most closely watched criminal cases in Poland.
Psychiatric examinations determined that he was legally sane. Prosecutors and specialists described a pattern involving sexual attraction, sadistic behavior and the infliction of pain.
On September 29, 1989, Trynkiewicz received four death sentences—one for each murder. However, following an amnesty introduced that year, the death sentences were converted into a 25-year prison term.
Trynkiewicz ultimately spent decades behind bars.
He was released from prison on February 11, 2014, but his freedom lasted only a short time. On March 3, a court ordered him confined at a secure facility in Gostynin, where individuals considered to pose a continuing danger could be isolated under Poland’s post-sentence detention system.
His legal troubles did not end there.
In 2015, Trynkiewicz received a five-year-and-six-month sentence for possessing child pornography.
Then, on April 6, 2021, the Gostynin District Court handed him another six-year prison sentence after he was convicted of repeatedly possessing child pornography.
Trynkiewicz died on January 9, 2025, in the prison hospital of the Gdańsk Detention Center. He was 62 years old.
His case remains one of the most disturbing chapters in modern Polish criminal history—not only because of the four murders that made him infamous, but also because authorities had already documented serious sexual offenses against children before those killings occurred.
The story of Mariusz Trynkiewicz became a lasting example of how a known sexual offender could go on to commit far more serious crimes, leaving behind four murdered children and a case that permanently entered Poland’s criminal history.
This story is based on publicly available information and reported facts. It has been independently written and presented for informational purposes. Images, if any, belong to their respective owners.