Northwest Indiana Discussion

One arrested in KFC killing
Police: Motive appears to be robbery at restaurant on U.S. 30

MERRILLVILLE | Officers suspect a 26-year-old man who worked at the Merrillville KFC killed the restaurant's assistant manager - a 61-year-old woman - Monday morning at the restaurant, police said.

Investigators believe robbery was "one of the motives" in the beating death of Maxine Urbanczyk, of Merrillville, said Merrillville Police Chief Joseph Petruch.

No one witnessed the killing, but police have surveillance video from the store, Petruch said. The man was arrested without incident Monday, Petruch said, and was in the Lake County Jail on Monday night.
Petruch would not say Monday night whether the man confessed to the killing.

Urbanczyk was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m. at the restaurant on U.S. 30 near Taft Street. Lake County coroner's investigators said she suffered multiple blunt force blows to the head. The coroner's office is scheduled to administer a complete forensic autopsy today.

Mourning the loss of his mother outside the restaurant Monday morning, Richard Urbanczyk Jr. said he had dropped her off for work about 8:30 a.m. He was told an hour later she was dead.

Petruch said officers responded to the scene about 9:30 a.m. after KFC employees found Urbanczyk on the floor of the restaurant office. The Lake County Major Crimes Task Force joined the investigation.

Petruch said there were no signs of forced entry into the business, and police have watched digital video from the restaurant that shows a single suspect entering and exiting the building, he said.

Petruch said the footage was valuable evidence.

"We have a quality tape," Petruch said.

Police said the suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash. Police said Monday afternoon they talked with current and former employees of the restaurant.

"We're talking to a lot of people," Merrillville police Operations Cmdr. Lance Huish said.

He said this is the first homicide in Merrillville since Naseeb Mohammed was killed at his business, Aladdin Pita, 3750 W. 80th Lane, in September 2006. Huish said the two homicides are not related.

Family members at the scene said Maxine Urbanczyk started working at KFC about five years ago after her husband, Richard Urbanczyk Sr., died.

She loved working at the restaurant, they said.

"When she worked, she gave it 110 percent," said Urbanczyk's daughter, Kathy Stein, who is a graphic designer in The Times advertising department.

Stein said her mother is survived by three children and seven grandchildren. She said her mother had a big heart and "would definitely give the shirt off her back."

"She always took care of us kids," Stein said.

Stein said her mother was looking forward to retiring in three years and enjoyed spending time with her family.

Anyone with more information on the case is asked to call the Merrillville Police Department at (219) 769-3531.

Times staff writer Dan Hinkel contributed to this report.
Date posted online: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

BY CHAS REILLY
creilly@nwitimes.com
219.662.5324

Sad

Rice should have been given the rope.........then burned

Since this is LC I wonder if they'll let him go with time served. It's sometimes hard to understand why something like this is expected to get a hard sentence but gangbangers who invade a home and the victim identifies the perps before passing away can get 10 years or less. Then in cocaine cases some woman gets about the same amount of time suggested for this murder yet a school principle does the same thing and basically gets probation.

Make no mistake I'd like this guy to visit old sparkie but that's unlikely to happen. But my point is with these inconsistent sentences for similar crimes so I am at least cautiously optimistic that this time justice will be carried out.

Once an area has it's economic base wiped out it usually gets infested with gangs, drugs, fraud, corruption you name it and it eventually infiltrates parts of the law enforcement community and the judicial systems. Look at this area for example.

Obscene labor costs and political greed ran big bad evil business out of town and now it's turning into Detroit right before our eyes complete with the scavenger bottom feeding politicos now running a majority of the show just to pick at the scraps left behind.

They pretend to represent their communities while gorging themselves on what's left of it's tax base while screwing over any workers and business that might be left in the private sector to fund the gub'mint freebies and trinkets they dangle in front of the useful idiots that keep voting them back into office.

And once they gain that control the criminals and the politicians sometimes join forces and go after the judicial and law enforcement communities to maintain that control. Keep people living in fear is how third world dictators rule their land and what better way to do that than to repeatedly unleash violent criminals into the streets. These are the same leaders who have successfully institutionalized an entire generation of people to believe they can live on nothing else but the meager crumbs tossed to them by their gub'mint. And in order to get those crumbs they will submit themselves completely or starve. As for the people who are still working and saved all their lives? They now have to give it all away to those who do nothing. Another entitlement for the do nothings if you will.

The ruling class around here can make promises all they want but the truth of the matter is that these people have no intention of rebuilding these communities. They care for nobody but themselves and their cronies. They'll take what they can get as fast as they can get it and then flee this area faster than a fart in the wind when enough of it is banked.

As a kid growing up I remember the mayors of towns would visit family picnics and such. You knew the police by first name. Neighbors helped neighbors. And people in general were kind and actually showed respect towards one another.

Communities like that still exist all over this country to this day but as far this region is concerned, those days likely are over. Where I live now is probably one of the few that remain.

But I can't wait to leave. I don't want to be here when it vanishes.

R.I.P. Mrs. Urbanczyk. We never met but from what I have read, you were one of the people who made this area a nice place to live and the criminal scum took you away from us.

Too much time and MONEY is spent on criminals.......................political or street thugs it is time when we hang them all.
Those who are convicted of crime need to be on the streets as labor and the ones that commit rape robbery and murder need to be set on fire and hung.