Andrew Podpinka Cold Case: Mysterious 1999 Murder Caller May Hold Key to Unsolved Crime

An anonymous caller to police about the vicious stabbing death of a Morley man in his home more than 25 years ago has gone cold and hung up, leaving investigators so tantalizingly close but so far from to solve the shocking case.

WA detectives hope releasing details of the phone call made in the days after Andrew Podpinka was killed in March 1999 will lead to the caller or others contacting them.

Mr Podpinka, a 43-year-old defenseless Polish migrant on a disability support pension, was found dead in a pool of blood on 4 March 1999 by his wife Margaret and then daughter Anna, aged 19, when they returned home from shopping at around 3.45pm.

The broadcast of the content of the Triple Zero call – on the latest WA Police podcast – about what detectives believe was a burglary gone wrong comes as Mr Podpinka’s wife reveals the impact of the crime, a police psychologist explores what happened and a neighbor speaks. for the first time about what he saw on that fateful day.

Det-Sgt Kevin Glynn, the case leader, said Mr Podpinka, who was stabbed several times in the master bedroom of his Hannans Street duplex, had no enemies and police had found no evidence he had been targeted in an attack that wild.

WA Police appeal to the public for any information regarding the 1990 murder of Perth father Andrew Podpinka
Camera icon2022 Morley cold case detectives appealing to the public for any information regarding the 1999 murder of Perth dad Andrew Podpinka. Credit: Amber Wilkinson/The West Australian

“Morley was dealing with a large number of burglaries at the time and the evidence suggests that this is simply a case of burglary gone wrong where Andrew confronted the offender which led to some sort of altercation which resulted in Andrew’s death,” he said. .

Det-Sgt Glynn said the mystery phone call was made on March 7 at 2.38am from a phone box 1km from Podpinka’s home by a man with a New Zealand accent.

The call took less than 20 seconds:

Police operator: “Police emergency!”

Caller: “Yeah, I meant to say it’s about the Morley murder over there.”

Operator: “Okay, how about this?”