Walter Dworecki

Background

Walter (“Iron Mike”) Dworecki lived in Camden, N.J. He led the First Polish Baptist Church community in Camden and was described as a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher. Dworecki’s daughter was Wanda Dworecki, who was 18 at the time she was killed; her younger sister was also mentioned.

Dworecki had insured Wanda’s life for $2,695. Police later focused on the insurance amount in the murder investigation, noting that Dworecki had taken out more than $12,000 in insurance on Wanda’s life. Collecting on insurance was described as nothing new for Dworecki: a year before Wanda died, Dworecki’s wife collapsed and died at the breakfast table, and the attending physician listed the cause of death as lobar pneumonia. Dworecki later collected $2,500 in life insurance.

At the time of Wanda’s death, Dworecki was out on bail awaiting trial for an arson fire in Pennsylvania. He was accused of torched a building he owned for insurance money. Prior criminal history also included a conviction for being a paper-hanger for passing bogus $5 bills, for which he was given five years on probation. After moving to Camden, Dworecki was accused of assaulting a neighbor boy by fracturing the boy’s jaw with a broomstick after he became angered by the boy’s loud baseball game.

The offence

Wanda Dworecki was strangled and beaten to death near a Camden, N.J., cemetery. Police described the attack as violent, and the cause of death was asphyxiation, apparently done manually. Her killer allegedly grabbed her in a headlock so tightly that it caused a brain hemorrhage and broke the hyoid bone, fractured her collar and breast bones, and dropped a heavy rock on her head.

Robbery was suggested as a possible motive because no purse was found near the body, and she was wearing a small diamond ring. The girl was not sexually assaulted.

Timeline

• August 7, 1939 — Dworecki was across the Delaware River in Philadelphia casting out the Devil at a tent revival when the body of an unidentified young woman with reddish-brown hair wearing a corsage of red and white roses turned up in a quiet area outside Camden, N.J.; the corpse was found near Camden’s “Lover’s Lane” around 10 p.m.
• August 7, 1939 (around 1:30 a.m.) — Dworecki arrived at police headquarters to make a missing persons report.
• August 7, 1939 (following questioning) — Police brought Peter Schewchuck to Camden; he confessed to killing Wanda at Dworecki’s request.
• March 28, 1940 — Walter “Iron Mike” Dworecki was executed by electrocution.

Investigation

The Camden police began a murder investigation, prioritising identification of the victim. When Dworecki went to the county morgue after making a missing persons report, he took one look at Wanda’s body and fainted; after being revived with smelling salts, he sobbed: “My poor Wanda.”

Although police knew Wanda Dworecki, they had not recognised her corpse at first when Dworecki arrived at the morgue. Police noted that Wanda had been warned by police that she might end up seriously hurt.

Dworecki told police that Wanda had left the family home at 6:30 p.m. the evening she disappeared, telling her younger sister that she was leaving to buy “stockings and ice cream.” Wanda never returned home.

Investigators had limited leads. Wanda was not wearing the corsage when she left home, according to her younger sister. A witness said she saw a girl matching Wanda’s description standing in front of a bank in downtown Camden, apparently waiting for someone. Another witness said a “blond giant” crossed the thoroughfare and approached Wanda, and a third confirmed that she walked away with the man.

Dworecki told police that he believed the men who had previously assaulted his daughter were responsible for her murder. He also told police about a caller who allegedly threatened Wanda shortly before she was slain. The caller allegedly growled, and Dworecki reported: “Tell Wanda to shut up, or someone is going to get killed.”

Police investigation into Dworecki’s background uncovered additional facts, including his prior convictions and his insurance-related history, including insurance taken out on Wanda’s life.

Arrest

Peter Schewchuck, a 21-year-old former boarder in the Dworecki home, confessed that at Pastor Dworecki’s behest he killed Wanda while her parent was out preaching. Schewchuck remained on the lam for nearly a week before showing up at his father’s home in Chester, Pennsylvania. Police brought him back to Camden for questioning, where he confessed after being offered a cigarette.

Schewchuck told police: “I met him in Philadelphia the same night (Wanda was killed),” and added: “He gave me 50 cents to cover my expenses and then went to conduct his religious services. I met Wanda and we strolled down the street.”

Schewchuck said the pair walked past the local high school toward a Lover’s Lane, where he “suddenly felt the urge to kill.” He said he strangled Wanda there, caved in her skull with a rock, and fled.

Schewchuck also said Dworecki instructed him: “Choke her, hit her with a rock, twist her neck,” and “Make sure she’s done.” Schewchuck stated he was supposed to collect $100 from Iron Mike, but the scheme fell through before he could be paid.

When Iron Mike was brought to the jail and saw Schewchuck, he realised the situation was up and confessed that he had hired the carny to kill his daughter.

Trial

After Schewchuck and Dworecki pleaded guilty in a Camden courthouse, New Jersey law prevented the judge from accepting the guilty pleas in capital cases. The reason given was that first-degree murderers were said to deserve a full trial as well as the electric chair. As a result, their plea was changed to “not guilty.”

About a month after Dworecki’s arrest, he went to trial and was convicted of murder-for-hire. The chief witness against him was Schewchuck. Dworecki was given the death penalty.

Sentencing

Schewchuck’s sentencing reflected his cooperation. He escaped the chair and was sentenced to life behind bars.

Appeals

No appeal details were included.

Outcome

On March 28, 1940, Walter (“Iron Mike”) Dworecki was executed by electrocution, becoming the first clergyman in the history of the Garden State to be executed for murder.

Other details

Wanda had prior history of being assaulted and threatened. Police said her interest in men had resulted in her being “molested, beaten or threatened” on two separate occasions.

In April 1939, Wanda was kidnapped by two men. They gagged her and threw her into their car. She was beaten and then thrown from the vehicle in a rural area of Salem County, New Jersey, south of Camden. Wanda spent several weeks in the hospital recovering from a skull fracture. She was shown mugshots of men suspected of the crime but was unable to identify any of her attackers.

Schewchuck was described as Wanda’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. He was described as a tall, tow-haired young man from Chester, Pennsylvania. Police suspected he was the blond giant who met Wanda in front of a Camden bank.

Dworecki’s daughter’s clothing at the time she left home included that she was not wearing the corsage when she left, and after her death she was described as wearing a corsage of red and white roses when the body was found.