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The most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship is when she leaves. If you need help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or visit thehotline.org. It was described as one of Vermont's most frustrating cold cases.
A dedicated mother and beloved school teacher disappeared in November of 1979 with nothing but a smashed up vehicle and a strange handwritten note left behind. When her ex-boyfriend disappeared a month later too, authorities had two people to track down, one they presumed to be dead and the other they suspected of causing her death.
The search for Frank Malinowski would become a cross-country event, tracking aliases and addresses out west until finally, a dedicated detective and a new state's attorney saw eye to eye on what needed to be done in the case. What needed to be done for Judy and her family. If you haven't listened to the first episode in this two-part series, start there with the disappearance of Judith Leo Konies.
It's linked in the show notes for you. I'm Kylie Lowe, and Judith Leocone's story continues on Darktown East. Judith Leocone's last known destination on November 5th, 1979 was to pick up some of her belongings at the home of her ex-boyfriend, Francis Malinowski.
Francis, called Frank, didn't have much of an alibi for that morning. He never showed up for work at the Burlington school system, and when asked, he told police he spent the day "walking around the woods and shooting birds." Frank's movements on that day put him in the same town where Judy's red Volkswagen Beetle would later be recovered. An FBI handwriting expert said that the handwritten note found on Judith's car was likely written by Francis Malinowski.
When police caught up to Frank to speak with him on the day Judy disappeared, he was wearing a torn down jacket. Detectives would later find feathers in Judy's abandoned car. With the search for Judith intensifying and the heat turning up on Frank, he put his kids on a bus to their grandparents' house, signed away the rights to his property in Vermont, cleaned out his bank accounts, and vanished. Gone.
And yet, it didn't matter that all the evidence uncovered in the decade-long investigation pointed to one singular suspect. A suspect that investigators were unable to rule out. For the two Chittenden County State's attorneys who could have brought charges against Frances Malinowski for the disappearance and presumed death of Judith Leo Konies, all the compelling evidence in the world was not enough. Without recovering Judy's body,
there was no evidence of murder or any crime at all. State's attorney Kevin Bradley told the Rutland Daily Herald that they didn't charge Frank because he couldn't disprove that the two of them, Frank and Judy, didn't just take off together. Quote, as ridiculous as that may seem. End quote.
Ridiculous indeed. A loving mother of a toddler son, a dedicated teacher, not to mention she'd broken up with Frank and was dating someone new. Frank had previously threatened Judy's life and held her captive at gunpoint when she refused reconciliation of their relationship. Running off together seemed like the least likely of scenarios. But if they couldn't prove it wrong, it remained a snag in the state's case against their prime suspect.
And so the case stalled. No body, no crime, no charges, no arrest. That was that. But the new detective assigned to her case did not roll over and give up. Detective Sergeant Leo Blase had become an absolute hound dog about Judy's case.
saying in the Rutland Daily Herald, quote, I'm a pain in the ass when I'm on something. I keep bugging people. I have my style. I documented everything, interviewed everyone I could, even a cab driver who picked up Malinowski the day of the murder and had since moved to Singapore, end quote. His dedication proved to be exactly what the case needed to finally move forward after so many years sitting stagnant.
Detective Sergeant Leo Blaze finally found the man who'd been evading detection since that day he put his kids on a bus to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Leo Blaze found Frank Malinowski. The name Francis Malinowski popped up in the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles database. It seemed Frank had tried to get a driver's license in Salt Lake City at one point during his travels.
Detective Blase was on the first flight out west, quietly arriving in Utah so as to not spook Frank into running. But Frank was already long gone. No sign of him in Utah. Still, it was the first sign of Frank since he took off in late November of 1979. Surely, following his trail, tracking him down, and having a conversation with the man would be top priority.
I mean, he'd been on the lam for years following the mysterious disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. You'd assume that authorities would at least want to ask him why. But that wasn't the case. Prosecutors appeared disinterested in tracking him down. They reasoned that Frank was unhelpful during his three interviews as part of the original investigation. He lawyered up and didn't answer a single question.
Former state's attorney Keller said that if Frank retained a lawyer the first time around, it was reasonable to assume he'd retain one again. The case is in limbo right now, Detective Leo Blase told the Rutland Daily Herald. Quote, it is up to the prosecutor as to what should and shouldn't be done. End quote. The case standing in limbo meant much more than just an investigative holdup.
The lives of Judy's family were in a continuous loop of wondering what happened, where she was, and if they'd ever get her back. Judy's mother, Patricia, said in 1989 that she believed Frank Malinowski murdered her daughter. Quote, I live with this morning, night, and noon. We wish the state would do something. Either they are going to get this guy, or they aren't. End quote.
Despite the years of waiting with no action in the case, there was hope on the horizon for Judy, her family, and the investigation. It came when state's attorney Kevin Bradley resigned in 1989. William Sorrell heard the warning loud and clear. As the newly appointed Chittenden County state's attorney, Sorrell had a lot of people to answer to, but one name in particular kept coming up.
The words echoed, you'd better deal with Leo Blase on that Malinowski case. Detective Sergeant Leo Blase had been waiting for the moment when the governor would appoint a new state's attorney following Kevin Bradley's resignation. Both Bradley and the state's attorney before him refused to bring charges against the primary suspect in the disappearance and presumed death of Judith Leo Coney's.
Blase hoped that William Sorrell would finally be the prosecutor, as he said, with enough guts to get it done. Knowing the pressure from Blase was coming, William Sorrell didn't even wait for his swearing in to take a look at the case file. In 1989, he opened up the first folder covering the years of work by Blase and the detectives before him. At very first glance, Sorrell was stunned.
He brought the file with him as he accompanied his wife on a business trip to Washington, D.C. The Boston Globe wrote that Sorrell poured over the pages of the case file while sitting at the Library of Congress, scribbling more than 30 pages of notes. It was among the most complete case files he'd reviewed in his career. When he was finished, Sorrell had three words for Blaze. Go for it.
On February 20, 1990, state's attorney William Sorrell presented the case of Judith Leoconis to a grand jury. Though the grand jury proceedings were sealed at the time, court records later revealed glimpses of Frank Malinowski's movements in the 12 years he was on the run. Frank's daughter testified for the grand jury, sharing that just two weeks prior, on February 4, 1990, she'd met her father in New York City.
They stayed together at the Hotel St. Moritz, a luxury hotel situated along Central Park. Her father paid for the hotel with a credit card, except it wasn't his name embossed on the plastic. It said instead, "Barry Vandiver Bryant," an apparent alias.
Nearly all of the information and evidence presented to the grand jury had been part of the case file for years, through the previous two state's attorneys, the ones who refused to prosecute. At the end of the testimony, the grand jury deliberated for 10 minutes. Just 10 minutes was all it took to return a 21-0 vote in favor of the indictment.
At the end of the proceedings, the grand jury ultimately agreed with what Detective Sergeant Leo Blais had been saying all along and what the new state's attorney firmly believed too. Judith Leo Konies was deceased and there was only one person who the evidence showed could be responsible for her death. With that, they handed down an indictment for murder and two days later, an arrest warrant was finally issued for Frances Malinowski.
Now they just had to find him. For real. Barry Vandiver Bryant. Knowing that Frank Malinowski was likely using an alias, or several, to remain undetected during his years on the run, was a huge help in furthering the search for the man now charged with the slaying of Judy Leoconis. With an arrest warrant in hand, the investigation picked up once again.
According to a piece by Michael Connelly for the Los Angeles Times, investigators, including Detective Leo Blais, tracked the name of Frank's alias to four private mailboxes in the San Fernando Valley in Hollywood, California. The Los Angeles Police Department fugitive squad assisted Vermont authorities during this phase of the investigation. It was the L.A. squad that interviewed the owners of the mail drop company about the man they knew as Barry Bryant.
After comparing photos, the mailbox drop owners positively identified Barry Bryant as Frank Malinowski. On April 12, 1990, those same owners contacted police to let them know that Frank, aka Barry, had just picked up his mail. FBI agents and police descended on the building located on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, but Frank was out of sight by the time they arrived.
Like hunters tracking prey, they followed Frank's trail, deciding to canvas area hotels and motels for any sight of their guy. The hunch paid off when agents flashed a photo of Frank Malinowski to a clerk at the nearby Best Western, who told them yes, the man in the photo was staying at the motel. He'd been there since February 20th, 1990, nearly two months.
He checked in the very same day that the grand jury hearing began back in Vermont. Perhaps Frank knew that his time was almost up. He wasn't in his room when police first arrived, but they were just fine waiting for Frank to return. When he pulled up later that afternoon, the fugitive and murder suspect had nowhere to go. He stepped out of his 1967 Volkswagen and told police that his name was Michael Bryant.
Yet another alias. Whatever name he wanted to give, police knew they'd finally put an end to Frank Malinowski's decade of running. Detective Sergeant Leo Blase was notified as soon as LAPD located Frank Malinowski. "Jesus," he told them, "hold off until I get there. I'm on my way."
Once again, Leo was on the first flight out of town to track down his suspect. But this time, he knew that Frank wouldn't slip away. Though Leo hoped to make the arrest on his own, LAPD officers ultimately arrested Frank without him. Frank was apparently planning to leave for a fishing trip in Mexico. They couldn't take the risk of him getting away.
When Leo Blase finally made it to California and laid eyes on the gray and balding man he'd been chasing for years, it gave him a strange feeling. Strange, but good. Blase told the Burlington Free Press, "I felt like he was an old friend, like I had known him for years." They were together in a holding cell when Blase said to the suspect, "Do you want me to call you Frank or Michael or Barry or what?"
The suspect told Leo to call him Frank. The arrest stirred the Woodland Hills neighborhood. He had been a quiet neighbor, maybe even a bit reclusive according to some, but generally regarded as friendly and generous. 44-year-old Michael Bryant was just another guy living alone with his pet Doberman in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles Times writer Michael Connelly spoke with Michael Bryant's neighbors on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, learning that he grew impressive cherry tomatoes. Better than you could buy in the supermarket, his landlord claimed. People knew him to be a photographer. At least, that's how they thought he made his money.
But of course, as his neighbors and landlord learned, the quiet, reclusive, friendly, and generous Michael Bryant with his apparent green thumb and freelance photography business wasn't the man he said he was. Michael Bryant was Frank Malinowski, wanted for murder, spending years on the run, and now in custody for the very crime he tried to escape.
When investigators searched his Woodland Hills home and vehicle, they found business cards for the apparent photography business run by a Michael Bryant. However, the only photos they recovered were self-portraits of Michael, also known as Frank, standing in fields of marijuana plants. According to the Boston Globe, the suspect's garage was storage for several pounds of marijuana seeds.
In Frank's car, a coffee can containing $217,000 all-in-$100 bills raised eyebrows. Quite the rainy day fund for a photographer. As Detective Leo Blase assembled the timeline of the last 10 years of Frank Malinowski's life, he learned that Frank ended up in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, not long after he fled Vermont.
He first worked as a house painter, but then relocated to Utah for a few years. Frank's daughter actually had contact with him when he lived in Utah. She traveled out west to go skiing with him. Frank ultimately returned to California in 1985, where he settled into his home in Woodland Hills. It turned out that Frank's first alias, Barry Vandiver Bryant, was the name of a real person in Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the real Barry had a lengthy criminal record and had been in jail since 1979. It's unclear how or why Frank chose to assume his name, but you can add identity theft to the list of Frank's alleged crimes. The real Barry ended up having to change his name due to the credit issues from the theft.
It was Friday morning, April 13th, 1990, when the phone rang at Patricia Leo's home. It had been more than 10 years since her daughter Judith Leo Conies disappeared, and Patricia was about to answer the call she'd been waiting for. It was Detective Sergeant Leo Blase. They had him. They arrested Francis Malinowski. Patricia later expressed her gratitude for Leo Blase and the new state's attorney, William Sorrell, in the Burlington Free Press.
but her gratitude was laced with mixed emotions. The progress in the case meant the wounds of Judy's family would be reopened and the trauma once again unearthed. Quote, sometimes I'm happy that it seems over, then I feel I don't want to know what really happened to my daughter. End quote. The case stalled just slightly following Frank's arrest as he awaited his extradition hearing.
Frank and his attorney had no interest in getting him back to Vermont, telling the media, quote, we want to see to it that he doesn't go back to a small-town witch hunt in Vermont. He feels he's innocent of the charges, end quote. As for why he split town after Judith disappeared, Frank's lawyer later said, quote, he felt like he was being driven out of town, and he took the cue, end quote.
During the extradition hearing, Frank's attorney told the judge that the murder charges took years to file and noted that Judith's body still had yet to be found. Quote, This woman could be living in New York City for all we know. End quote. After continuations and delays, Francis Malinowski was ultimately ordered extradited to Vermont to face the first-degree murder charge in the 1979 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Judith Leo Conies.
He was back in Vermont after 11 years, in July of 1990. Frank passionately denied the charge against him, announcing to the media upon his return, quote, I'm absolutely not guilty as charged. I intend to do the best I can under the circumstances, and I will fight every inch of the way to prove my innocence, end quote.
Mike Donoghue for the Burlington Free Press asked Frank if he'd heard from Judith in the previous 10+ years while he was on the run and if he believed she was still alive. Frank denied comment. His bail would later be set at $2 million cash, the highest bail ever imposed in Vermont at that time.
Things were falling into place and justice seemed closer than ever for one of Vermont's most frustrating and long-standing missing persons investigations. The only thing that could possibly make the state's case against Francis Malinowski any stronger was finding Judith. In the months before his trial was set to begin, investigators held out hope that they could finally bring her home.
On Monday, November 19th, 1990, 11 years and 14 days after Judith Leo Konies disappeared, local Burlington, Vermont news station WCAX-TV had their cameras rolling at a scene in the Cabot, Vermont woods. Vermont State Police asked the station not to broadcast the footage for fear of jeopardizing an ongoing investigation.
Without airing what they captured on film, the TV station still described what they were seeing. It was a dig site, and WCAX-TV said that they were quite certain a body was found. Unconfirmed reports claimed that the body belonged to a missing woman who hadn't been seen in 11 years, and that the man accused of killing her led police to the burial site where she'd been concealed for over a decade.
Chittenden County State's Attorney would not comment on the dig in the Cabot Woods, whether a body had been recovered or any other details. He assured the media that further information would come to light within 48 hours. The unconfirmed reports proved to be true. Investigators finally recovered the body of Judith Leo Konies, found in a shallow grave off an old logging road in the woods of Cabot, Vermont.
Francis Malinowski brought state police to the site himself. Though State's Attorney William Sorrell would not comment on Frank's apparent cooperation with the investigation, Judith's family spoke publicly about the circumstances that led to the recovery of her remains. Judith's father, Roy Leo, spoke to Brian Pfeiffer of the Rutland Daily Herald saying that there was a plea agreement reached between Frank and the state.
As part of that agreement, Frank had to reveal where he buried Judith all those years ago. Roy said in an interview, quote, "He took them to the site, but he couldn't find the spot where he buried her. After all, things do change in 11 years." End quote. Digging required heavy equipment and then careful, hand-shoveled excavation as they zeroed in on a likely gravesite in a freshly dug trench.
It was Leo Blaze who spotted something in the dirt that looked like a ripple, a plastic bag. Water was pooling into the trench as he knelt down for a closer look. He described the moment in the Rutland Daily Herald, thinking to himself, quote, Do I really want to be the one to find her? And then instincts took over, and I reached down, and there she was, end quote.
Judy's father spoke to the local media, saying, quote, We're just very, very glad it's over. We just want to give her a Christian burial, end quote. They would have that opportunity, just as soon as the plea agreement was accepted for a new charge, manslaughter, not murder. As part of the plea agreement, Frank had to bring authorities to Judith's body, which he'd done on November 19th.
He also had to pen a formal confession of the crime. Despite his many claims of innocence, Frank finally admitted to knowing Judy was dead all those years, but he stopped short of truly claiming responsibility. In his two-page confession, Frank spelled out his version of the events of November 5th, 1979.
According to reporting by the Burlington Free Press, the confession covered only a few minutes before and after Judith's death, which was determined to be caused by gunshot wounds to her head. Frank claimed that when Judy arrived at his house that morning, he was depressed and expressing suicidal thoughts.
He wanted to make one last effort to get back together with Judy, and when she again refused, Frank said he went to his room and retrieved his .22 caliber pistol. Frank claimed that Judy tried to stop him, urging him to contact his psychiatrist. Frank said, quote, I stopped, and she grabbed my arm with the gun. We fell to the ground. I lost control and shot her once or twice, end quote.
Pleading guilty to manslaughter meant Francis Malinowski would face 10 to 15 years in jail. However, with this previously arranged agreement, he'd serve just over three years. Three years for ending the life of a woman. Judge Mahady considered the terms of the plea agreement, having to decide whether to accept or reject the terms reached between the State and Defense Council.
He returned to the bench after an hour and shared his thoughts with the courtroom. Quote, End quote.
But on the other hand, if he did reject the plea agreement, the case against Frank was much weaker than when it started. You see, if the plea deal wasn't accepted and the state's next option was to move forward with the original murder charge, they wouldn't be able to use the discovery of Judith's body or Frank's written confession as evidence.
Investigators and the state's attorney only had those pieces of evidence because Frank agreed to cooperate under terms of a plea agreement. If he hadn't agreed, they wouldn't exist. If the plea agreement was rejected and they moved forward to trial on manslaughter charges, and a jury found Francis Malinowski guilty of manslaughter, the court would actually be forced to throw out the conviction.
because the statute of limitations for manslaughter ran out in 1982, three years after Judith was killed. Somehow, a man who had weaseled his way out of Vermont to live an apparently unbothered life, growing weed in California and skiing in Utah and visiting with his children under fake names, had also weaseled his way into a best-case scenario for no one but himself.
Judge Frank Mahady concluded the hearing by accepting the plea agreement, saying, quote, End quote. That goal, bringing Judy home, it was accomplished. Justice was technically served.
though it was hardly the amount of justice Judith Leo Konies and her family deserved. The Rutland Daily Herald, in their 1990 Vermonter of the Year feature story about Detective Sergeant Leo Blase, wrote that Blase sat at the back of the courtroom as the judge accepted the plea bargain reached between the state and Frank's defense attorneys. Leo Blase cried openly, sobbing into his hands.
Just three years for the man who'd spent over three times that on the run, leaving unanswered questions and broken families and a slain woman behind him. As if nothing ever happened, Leo Blaze felt it was hardly the just punishment for what Judy and her family had been through.
Judith's mother Patricia reacted to the conclusion of the case, telling the Bennington Banner, "...I'm still angry that someone can kill somebody with two bullets in the back of the head and throw her body in a plastic bag and only get three years. It's just not right."
In 1992, the family of Judy Leo Konies filed a lawsuit against Francis Malinowski, his psychiatrist Dr. Donald F. Hillman, and University Associates in Psychiatry, Inc., for encouraging Judy not to report the incident in which Frank held her at gunpoint.
The suit alleged that University Associates in Psychiatry, Inc. failed to properly supervise Dr. Hillman and that Dr. Hillman was guilty of conflict of interest when he also advised Judith Leoconis while Frank was his patient. It also claimed that when Judy went to Dr. Hillman and told him that Frank held her captive at gunpoint, the doctor assured her that he would discuss it with Frank the next day, but he never did.
The suit made it all the way to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that state law limits the provisions under which a psychiatrist may be sued by the family of a murder victim. The ruling said that the doctor could face penalties relating to Judy's pain and suffering, but not charge him with her wrongful death or hold him liable for the emotional distress of her son. With that ruling, Judy's family had no recourse.
Their daughter's killer merely got a slap on the wrist with his three-year sentence. And I don't know for sure, but it's possible I share the same train of thought of Judy's family. That had Judy been encouraged to report the incident, if Dr. Hillman responded differently when she came to him, maybe this tragic ending never would have come to be. Maybe this wouldn't be a story at all.
When his three years in prison were up, Frank Malinowski had another phase of his sentence to serve, including probation and 1,000 hours of community service. He was released in August of 1993, moving in with his daughter in Montpelier, and began his community service work, digging graves at Greenmount Cemetery.
According to the Burlington Free Press, a percentage of his community service hours had to be served in Vermont. But Frank and his attorney petitioned to have the probation part of his sentence moved to Connecticut, which was eventually granted. Under the terms of his sentencing agreement, Frank would stay on probation until further order of the court, indefinitely, essentially. He checked in with his probation officer once a month for 17 years.
and he apparently started to get tired of it. In 2007, Frank claimed his declining health due to a rare type of blood cancer warranted his release from probation. It was his second time trying to end his court-ordered supervision and the state of Vermont wasn't having it.
William Sorrell, who still held the office of state's attorney in Chittenden County since the day he gave the go-ahead to present evidence to a grand jury in the case, said, quote, as long as I am attorney general, he will remain on probation if I have anything to say about it, end quote. Sorrell believed that the real reason Frank wanted off probation was because the monthly visits to his officer served as a reminder of what he did to Judith Leoconis.
telling the Free Press, quote, Frank Malinowski stayed on probation until the day he died, on January 19th, 2010, at 64 years old.
Former Detective Sergeant Leo Blase, who retired after the case closed in 1991, told Sam Hemingway for the Burlington Free Press, quote, The people of Connecticut can rest easier knowing he's gone, and so can Vermont. I'm glad he's not around anymore, end quote. In May of 1991, Judith Leo Konies was finally laid to rest in a family plot in Maine with the Christian burial her family had always wanted to give her.
Among the scripture readings and hymns and prayers were remarks given by members of the family and Judith's friends. Detective Sergeant Leo Blais was among those to speak at Judy's service. In memory of Judith Leoconis and the thousands of women whose lives are stolen by intimate partner violence each year, Dark Down East has made a donation to the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
To learn more about this organization and to support their efforts, visit the show notes at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources for this episode include reporting by Mike Donoghue for the Burlington Free Press, Margot Howland and Elizabeth Slater for the Rutland Daily Herald, staff reporters at the Times-Argus, and more. All sources are listed and linked at darkdowneast.com so you can do some more digging of your own.
This week for Missing New England, I want to bring your attention to the case of Mary E. Reid. Mary E. Reid was last seen at about 11 a.m. on Friday, March 25, 2022, in her home in Searsburg, Vermont. She is about 5 feet 4 inches tall, 110 pounds, and has blue eyes and sandy hair.
She was last seen wearing a red and black flannel jacket, blue jeans, and black and gold Puma sneakers. She was reported missing the next day on Saturday, March 26th.
State Police encourage anyone with information that might aid the investigation to call the Shaftesbury Barracks at 1-802-442-5421. Tips may also be submitted anonymously online. More information for reporting information in this case and other missing persons cases, it's available at darkdowneast.com slash missing. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do.
I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let their names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.
