Suspected of Assuming N. Hollywood Victim’s Identity : Transient Arrested in Decapitation

A transient suspected of cutting off the head and hands of a North Hollywood man, then assuming the victim’s identity and trying to sell the man’s home, has been arrested on suspicion of murder in Tucson, Ariz., police reported Wednesday.

Ventura County sheriff’s investigators and Tucson police on Tuesday arrested Thomas Allan Osmond, 33, in the motor home in which he was living behind a restaurant in Tucson.

He was wanted in connection with the killing of Edmund Krulikowski, 69, who also went by the name of Edmund Rigielski, Tucson Police Sgt. Paul Hallums said.

Osmond was being held without bail in the Pima County Jail pending his extradition to California, Hallums said.

Last Seen in November

Krulikowski, who lived on the 11700 block of Califa Street, was last seen about Nov. 1, 1985.

Before his disappearance, people living in the neighborhood reported they had seen a motor home with a personalized license plate reading “OSMOND,” Hallums said.

On Nov. 4, a group heading for a fishing expedition to Lake Piru in Ventura County found a plywood box painted in a camouflage pattern on the trail, which contained the remains of a man, Hallums said.

The victim’s head and both hands were missing.

Identified in February

Hallums said the remains were not identified until February, when the state Department of Justice contacted Ventura County sheriff’s and Los Angeles police investigators. Together, the agencies were able to identify the man.

During the subsequent investigation, authorities found that Krulikowski’s relatives had received letters, supposedly from Krulikowski, requesting that they send money to a post office box in Tucson, Hallums said, but they suspected a forgery.

The letters were mailed after the body was found. The correspondence was signed with the Rigielski name, investigators said. They had no immediate explanation why Krulikowski used another name.

Authorities learned that a real estate agency had been contacted and asked to sell Krulikowski’s home and that the Veteran’s Administration had also been asked to send Krulikowski’s checks to the Tucson post office box, Hallums said. It was not known whether the VA complied, he said.

Identification Card

Police also suspect that Osmond was able to obtain a California identification card in the Rigielski name, Hallums said.

Ventura County sheriff’s detectives went to Tucson, located the motor home behind a restaurant and served a search warrant with the help of Tucson police, Hallums said. Osmond was arrested without incident, Hallums said.