Orlické murders after thirty years - Novinky.cz<

Kopáč was then sitting in his house in Rudná u Prahy on a wheelchair with a loaded pistol in his mouth, he did not want to give up and he threatened to shoot himself. However, his testimony was crucial for criminal investigators.

Doucha, who worked for the police for 27 years and co-founded and then led the department for fighting organized crime, finally had to do something...

At that time, I was the director of the Regional Office of Investigation of the Central Bohemian Region, i.e. the head of the investigation department, which procedurally processed cases so that they could be used in a possible court.

The case was dug out of the ground by guys from the Prague murder party, mainly Jan Štoček and František Havlovič. However, three departments were actually involved in the whole case. First of all, the above-mentioned Prague criminal investigators, who investigated it and found that the first hunt for a barrel with one of the victims should be at the Orlická dam. That place belonged to us, the Central Bohemians.

When the dyke was explored, where the terrain was simple because it was limited by the dyke, further findings led to the Žďák bridge. But it belongs neither to Prague nor to Central Bohemia, but to South Bohemia. The work was thus divided.

The South Bohemians came out to meet us and guarded the whole area for us, because at that time there was a large movement of people there. It was in the middle of July 1995. The entrepreneurs who ran bungee jumping on the Žďák bridge were the most annoyed, because we had to drive them out of there.

From the first information to the arrest of about ten perpetrators, plus an emergency report. After that, including interrogations, there are only two of our investigators.

The information that there is a Prague gang that liquidates businessmen, puts them in barrels and lye and throws them into the Orlická dam, came in a very vague form from the criminal environment in northern Bohemia, if you remember well I remember.

And since it was a Prague gang, detectives from the Prague murder party started working on it. There, the aforementioned Štoček and Havlović did the biggest piece of work. They dug into it until they discovered that Ludvík Černý and Karel Kopáč should be the perpetrators.

Yes. He even offered himself as a hired killer. There were also various stories in the crime scene that other corpses were lying in southern and northern Bohemia, but it never reached the stage where any relevant information could be relied upon.

On the embankment, it was already known who it should be, which criminals should do this and throw barrels into Orlík. Of course, they were also identified as damaged or missing. It only required one thing: to pull out at least one barrel.

The search for divers from the Mining Rescue Service, which we had at our disposal, is quite expensive, which is understandable, demanding work with super equipment. And the Prague police paid for it. If the barrel wasn't found, management would call it quits, because we don't have anything tangible. And by the first barrel, everything was literally on the water. It was only known that the barrels were thrown somewhere in Orlík.

No, exactly. There was a dam that could easily be reached by car and thrown down from it. It was searched relatively quickly, because everything that fell into the water would be caught by the dam.

And another place that corresponded to the possibility of getting rid of barrels was Žďakovský most. But there it was about something else. Fifty meters from the bridge to the surface and another fifty meters deep.

It was probably on the penultimate, or even last, day of that week when the divers went under water, really in five minutes to twelve. In addition, as the temperature increased in July, cyanobacteria started and the visibility in the water became worse.

The divers said that if we don't find anything this week, they will come in the fall when the water is clearer. Fortunately, the first barrel was found, which was a minor miracle.

When the Žďák bridge was being built, the well-established practice of masons was that what did not fit was thrown away. In this case, into the water. This means that there was a lot of leftover construction material at the bottom, it is even said that the old cargo van ended up there.

So, on the one hand, the visibility of the divers worsened, and then they found a large amount of junk there, which could easily be confused with a barrel. So the find was a miracle.

Yes, but I wasn't there all the time, I had another job. You can say that I coordinated it and directed the investigation.

Belonged to Leorent Lipoveci (originally from Kosovo). He was among the chosen victims.

But that didn't happen. Maybe there would have to be a different concentration, maybe it shouldn't be in a confined space, but it certainly didn't do what they imagined, destroy the victim's identity.

Two barrels and another victim tangled in mesh. There were a total of five murders, with one victim dying in hospital (the mother of one of the killers in Orlik, Anna Medková) and another being shot and found in his home (Kopáč's brother-in-law Jaroslav Meier).

There was a panic because it was necessary to arrest the perpetrators and start a specific prosecution. We already had a motive and got proof. So an intervention was prepared, for which the Prague detectives, my investigators and the Prague emergency team went.

No. None of them answered. There was another problem. Of course, what we did under the Žďák bridge did not escape the attention of the public. I have a feeling the bungee jumping guys were pissed off, so they called the TV saying the police were up there.

Nova arrived, even borrowing a punt from someone, and they headed to the pontoon where we were. I had to quickly jump into the speedboat, push them away and then give them some information because there was no other way. However, I gave them the misleading information that there is a kind of cooperation exercise between the Prague and Central Bohemian police. Of course they didn't believe it.

We knew one thing, that as soon as this appeared on TV Nova, it would appeal to those guys. They'll know the cops are where they threw the barrels. Therefore, the entire intervention had to be accelerated.

It was until the next day.

It must always be done that way. We followed the three main ones, i.e. Kopáč, Černý and Vladimír Kun.

There was a complication. He was ready for intervention and threatened suicide. I was already on my way home from the office when I received information on the phone about a problem in Rudná u Prahy, that Kopáč is sitting with a banger in his mouth and wants to shoot himself. I instructed them not to take any steps, wait, and drove to the location.

I got in touch with Mirek Vávra, who at the time was the chief commissioner of the Prague crime scene, actually its boss, Štoček and Havlović were his guys. We went to the place together with Vávra and it was good, because we didn't talk to Kopáč. He wanted to talk to someone who has the right to decide on the matter, he refused the investigator. And most of all, he wanted to see his girlfriend at the time.

I decided it. There was no other way. I went in civilian clothes, unarmed, no vest and no radio. I didn't go to fight, but to negotiate.

The only one. Talk to your girlfriend. I told him yes, that we would allow it, but that I couldn't let her in while she had a gun in her hand. So I asked him to give it to me and that I guarantee him that he will have a girlfriend here and he can talk to her. That he would hand over the weapon, but he didn't want to come forward, and it went on and on like that.

I explained to him what it would look like when he blew himself up, how the brain would be on the wall over there, and how all the accomplices who were incorrect, which he knew, would then throw everything at him, and that in maybe his girlfriend will slip too. And all this goes on and on for three hours.

We mainly wanted Kopáč not to kill himself, we needed him alive and in the end it was confirmed that it was a good thing.

Personal items not. He was in URNA, so I told him: "You were a cop, you know what it is, there's no escape anyway. Everything is already known, the barrel is out, which means that you will play now to make everything as mild as possible. Above all, play so that it doesn't all end with you and that girl of yours". It was endless.

Happy. I was running out of breath and topics, because you can't talk about three things for three hours. He was also running out of patience. He had been sitting there for several hours in a wheelchair, which he ended up using after a serious car accident in January 1994.

He admitted that his back hurts, his head hurts, that he's pissed all over, and he wanted his girl to blow away. But one more thing happened, which is why I also know the three hours I spent there with him.

I came to see him at half past five and at half past eight he turned on the TV in the next room through the door, the news on TV Nova and watched it. At that moment, Mirek Vávra tapped on the window for me to follow him and told me that Nova was here with the transfer car and they wanted direct shots from there.

At the same time, I told Kopáč shortly before that his girlfriend can't come to see him now, because everyone who was here all afternoon, the whole convoy, just left for dinner and there is no one there.

And at that moment, TV Nova would do a live broadcast of how everyone was in front of the barracks, police cars, ambulances, lots of cops... That's why I told Vávra that the TV had to go, not even a shot, otherwise he would be responsible Kickers and maybe me too. If Kopáč found out that I was talking to him, what would he do to me... So Vávra took pity on them.

Shortly after that, Kopáč's phone rang, which he had on the table where he was sitting in his wheelchair. He picked him up and one of his sisters was calling him. She must have somehow found out that something was going on in Rudná around their house, and she asked him what was going on.

He replied: "It's a mess, there are cops everywhere, I've got a banger in the holder and I'll probably end it all". And she perfectly began to excuse it to him, that everything was solvable.

And as Kopáč was already tired and talking to his sister at the same time, his attention was completely lost. He was looking at the table, the banger he had in his mouth flew away from his head along with his hand.

Around the corner in the next room, standing behind the door was one of the squad boys who had remained there secretly after the rest of the team retreated and left the house when the Digger threatened to kill himself. The boy saw me, but not the Digger. He looked at me again, but not at the boy.

So I subtly motioned to the boy under the thigh to go hard on him. He counted on the fact that I wouldn't let him go against the banger, flew into that room, grabbed Kopáč's hand with the pistol and pushed it under the table. That's when a shot rang out. The kicker somehow injured his leg and possibly his scrotum, but as he was paralyzed below, it didn't even occur to him.

There was no second shot because, as I learned, it jammed. The banger was in terrible condition, probably not cleaned, so the cartridge jammed and the Digger had no chance to fire a second time. Other guys from the emergency room jumped in and arrested him.

That wouldn't work because he saw me and I would have to cross the whole room because I was sitting on a chair right next to the door, he wouldn't let me near him at all.

But he did not expect at all that there might be an attack from the side where the member of the emergency team was hidden. It was his perfect job because he really went into the dark, into the tunnel and into the risk.

He did it only after I think Kuna spoke first. On the contrary, Černý denied it and claims to this day that he is innocent. In the end, however, Kopáč was really the most important. Before the accident, he was basically the head of the group, he was the boss, he was the strongest personality.

In the end, he saw the hopelessness and was probably annoyed that everyone was giving up, that they were only doing what they had to. So he confessed to everything. Even though Černý denied everything, he was actually the only murderer, he was the only one who killed. Kopáč rather planned some actions or lured the victim to a specific place, for example during the murder of businessman Aleš Katovský.

That's right, murdered in April thirty years ago. Kopač acted as a security guard in Katovsk and lured him out for money. The victim's car then ended up in a car dealership in Germany, but we did not find traces of blood in it during the first investigation of the case. That was sometime in 1992 or 1993. That's why we didn't get anywhere.

Yes, we already knew that. But most of all, we received a financial blessing from the police leadership. If we hadn't found that first barrel, we wouldn't have gone there again.

I dealt personally only with Kopáč during the arrest and then at the beginning of the investigation I went to see him in Pankráci.

No. He was so frozen, he didn't express himself much. But he established excellent contact with one of Prague's detectives, Havlovič, who also went to see him at the crime scene in Kuřimi near Brno, Kopáč also wrote him letters. He also sent me some Christmas wishes.

Not that I expected it, but I'm not surprised. Life in crime is a burden even for a healthy person, let alone when you are in a wheelchair.

It's just my feeling. The kicker was a head, a matter-of-fact pragmatic person. Kuna was a typical handyman, skilled, he knew how to seal barrels and did everything he was told. But one could hardly expect any initiative of his own from him.

Cerný was something else. He had an extremely deceptive appearance. You would never tell him that he is such a cold-blooded murderer. He looked like a stick. In the north of Bohemia he was nicknamed Mimísek. The accomplices also called him the Patient.

You know, when someone shoots a person while driving a car (Katovský), and it's the driver, he can't be right in his head. After all, he also endangered himself. During the murder in April 1991 in Prague's Zličín, he was more lucky than smart when the car almost collided with a bus.

And what did Černý show in the murder of Lipovec? He shot him in the back of the head on the stairs, and then, according to Kopáč s Kuna's statement, he jumped on his tiptoe and shouted: "I'm a quadriplegic".

He was a playful boy, which is also indicated by the murder of Anna Medková, Kuna's mother and the owner of the sado-maso salon. He killed her with a package with an explosive system. He also shot Kopáč's brother-in-law Jaroslav Meier himself. As soon as they gave him money for something, he didn't mind.

After all, even Kopáč himself feared for his life when he ended up in a wheelchair after an accident and he and Černý had a rift because they more or less threw him overboard with Kuna. That's why he always had a banger with him.

It is, and he still feels innocent.

I think not so much. It was completely typical for the period of the 90s in this republic. Relaxation and entrepreneurship led some people who had higher demands than abilities to embark on such a path as well.

The eagle killers were special both because they were the first and because there is a higher number of five murders. But there were more similar murders, even on commission, at that time.

I think that at present it is no longer quite possible on such a scale. Police options have also moved. I consider the Eagle murders to be my biggest case.

I saw him repeatedly. There was a license, it was a little different.