DECAPITATED's Attorney Responds To Kidnapping Charges: 'There Is Another Side To This'

September 9, 2017

An attorney for the Polish extreme metal band DECAPITATED has claimed their innocence in the alleged kidnapping a woman after their concert in Spokane on August 31.

Spokane Police Department spokeswoman Cpl. Teresa Fuller told The Spokesman-Review that a woman reported the alleged kidnapping by the musicians to police just before 2 a.m. on September 1. The woman is believed to have attended DECAPITATED's concert with THY ART IS MURDER at The Pin concert venue in downtown Spokane as part of the two bands' "Double Homicide" tour.

The DECAPITATED bandmembers — identified as 27-year-old Michal M. Lysejko, 35-year-old Waclaw J. Kieltyka, 31-year-old Rafal T. Piotrowski and 30-year-old Hubert E. Wiecek — were arrested early Saturday following their concert at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California. They are in the Los Angeles County Jail awaiting extradition to Spokane. Fuller said additional charges are possible.

"A patrol officer responded and assisted the victim. The report was then sent to the Special Victim's Unit for follow up," Spokane police said in a statement. "Based on the information they developed during the subsequent investigation, and with assistance from the LA County SO, the four males were taken into custody for 1st Degree Kidnapping in Santa Ana this morning."

Santa Ana police Sgt. Javier Aceves told The Orange County Register: "After they finished playing [at The Observatory], they were kind of hanging out. There was nothing dramatic."

Defense attorney Steve Graham, who was hired by the band on Thursday after they became aware of the investigation, told The Spokesman-Review: "There is another side to this. We have witnesses that can testify to the fact that the accuser came to visit band of her own free will and left on good terms."

Graham said he told police that the band members had offered to surrender but never heard anything back. "I made it clear that I could get the guys up here ASAP and they would cooperate," he said.

DECAPITATED's next two shows have been scrapped as a result of the band's arrests.

"Unfortunately DECAPITATED will be unable to make tonight's performance as scheduled," the Mesa, Arizona venue Club Red said about Saturday's gig.

"Sorry everyone — due to DECAPITATED's legal problems, tomorrow's show has been cancelled," the El Paso, Texas venue Tricky Falls, where the band was scheduled to play Sunday, added shortly after the arrests.

DECAPITATED has been touring North America in support of its seventh album, "Anticult", which was released on July 7 via Nuclear Blast.

Find more on Decapitated
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).