Family died 'a terrible death'
Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: GEORGE GRAHAM; STAFF Union-News (Springfield, Mass.)
The father of a man who killed his family before shooting himself said he had no idea what drove his son to violence.WESTFIELD - Richard Kolenda stabbed his wife and two children to death in the kitchen of their Allen Avenue home Sunday morning and then brought their bodies down to the cellar, a state police detective said yesterday.
Evidence indicates that at least one or more of the victims struggled with Kolenda before they died, said state police Detective Lt. Peter J. Higgins.
"To me, it was a terrible situation, it was a terrible scene and they died a terrible death," Higgins said.
Police believe Kolenda then called 911 on a cell phone, alerting state police in Russell to the deaths of his wife and children before shooting himself in the head near City Hall about a half-mile from his home at 3 Allen Ave.
Kolenda's father, city resident Wladyslow J. Kolenda, said yesterday he had no idea why his son did what he did.
"As to what happened, I can't understand what happened," the elder Kolenda said, his voice breaking with emotion. "He was a good man. . . Maybe something happened to his brain."
Kolenda's motive may never be known, Higgins said.
"In reality we realize that people sometimes snap and that maybe we will never know," Higgins said. "The motive may have died with the guy and the other people in the house."
Wladyslow Kolenda said he last saw his son about 12 hours before the early Sunday morning rampage.
Kolenda said he thought highly of his son's wife, Gienia, 50, their daughter, Yana, and son, Anatoli, both 11.
"Nice lady, nice children," Kolenda said.
Death certificates released by the Hampden County Medical Examiner's office yesterday stated that Gienia and the children died of multiple stab wounds and that Kolenda died of a gunshot wound to his head.
Kolenda and his wife adopted the children, who were Russian, around 1994.
The elder Kolenda said yesterday that funeral plans were dependent on whether Gienia's sister, who lives in Poland, would be able to attend. If she can, the funeral may be held Monday, if not, perhaps this Saturday.
Kolenda, who once owned a General Nutrition Co. franchise in Jacksonville, Fla., was in an ongoing legal battle with the company.
"GNC wishes to express its sincerest condolences to the surviving members of the Kolenda family for the loss of their loved ones on October 20," GNC stated in a release yesterday.
GNC stated that the company's business relationship with Kolenda ended in 1999 when its franchise agreement with Kolenda was canceled.
The dispute, still pending in state court in Pittsburgh, Penn., concerns the cancellation and valuation of his franchise in 1999, according to GNC.
Kolenda's lawyer in the matter, Richard J. Lantinberg of Jacksonville, Fla., said earlier this week that he saw nothing in the case that could drive Kolenda to do such a thing.
The last time such a horrific case struck Western Massachusetts may have been in Chicopee on Sept. 8, 1981, when Richard S. Grochmal methodically killed his mother, wife and three children before killing himself.
A tragedy of a similar magnitude struck Westfield on March 7, 1951, when a Sackett Street woman drowned her three small children in a bathtub. The woman surrendered to police, according to a Springfield Union news article.
George Graham can be reached at ggraham@union-news.com