How a TV journalist helped crack a murder cold case

Izabela Zablocka was murdered and her body was cut in two by her partner, who then buried her in the back garden

Polish TV journalist Rafal Zalewski knew Anna Podedworna was hiding something when he travelled to interview her in Derby.

Prosecutors commended him and his work - calling it the "tipping point" that led to Podedworna emailing Derbyshire Police telling them where to find the body of her partner Izabela Zablocka.

Podedworna, a "skilled butcher", killed Izabela in their home in Derby in 2010, cut her into two pieces and buried her in the garden. She was found guilty of murder on Tuesday.

Speaking to the BBC, Zalewski said: "She was very surprised and nervous during that conversation."

Prosecutors involved in the case of Izabela Zablocka's murder said Rafel Zalewski's doorstep interview of Anna Podedworna was pivotal to her confessing her crimes

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing

Zalewski, who works as a reporter for Polsat - one of the most watched TV channels in Poland - received correspondence from Izabela's daughter, Kasia, asking him to look into her disappearance.

He flew to Derby to challenge Podedworna on the doorstep of her Boyer Street home for their social affairs programme Interwencja. Despite knowing exactly where Izabela was, she denied any knowledge of her whereabouts.

But Zalewski said something was amiss. He felt she was not telling the truth.

"[She was the] person from the very beginning who was pointed out by Izabela's family as someone who might be linked and have knowledge relating to the mysterious disappearance," he said.

"She was very surprised and nervous during that conversation."

Zalewski spent every day at the trial at Derby Crown Court

After that doorstep interview, Podedworna knew her time was up. The prosecution said the mounting pressure caused her to crack - 15 years on.

Following the interaction with Zalewski, she emailed Derbyshire Police about Izabela on 15 May 2025.

At first, the police had no idea what it was all about as Podedworna's email had come completely out of the blue.

The police emailed the defendant back asking her for further details.

Over the days that followed there was an exchange of emails between her and the force.

It culminated in the defendant emailing detectives on 24 May, informing them they would find Izabela buried in the back garden of a house in Princes Street, Normanton.

Izabela's daughter Kasia was still living in Poland when her mother went missing and contacted Zalewski for help as an adult

Later that same day, the defendant attended Pear Tree police station in Derby and admitted she had killed Izabela.

But she claimed Izabela had died by "accident" during a violent confrontation between them, and that during this, she had done nothing more than defend herself.

But the jury rejected that defence when she took to the witness stand.

Speaking about his interaction with Podedworna, Zalewski said the killer had told Izabela's family "so many lies" to them.

"I knew she could be hiding something, that she might know something more than she's not telling us," he said. "This was further confirmed by how nervous she appeared to be when I showed up on her doorstep.

"We know now that right after that conversation with me, she went to the police and revealed where Izabela's remains were hidden. Now we know how Izabela got treated after her death, it's simply something monstrous and macabre."

Podedworna was convicted of murder by a jury on Tuesday

Zalewski said the case itself was high-profile, both in Poland and with Polish nationals living in the UK.

"When we walk the streets of Derby, where we've been now for over a week, people approach us every other moment and ask us about this case - what else we know, when will the prosecution take place.

"I think it will get even bigger when we hear the scale of the sentencing," he said.

After the verdict, Det Insp Kane Martin said: "The roles that Kasia and Mr Zalewski played in this case cannot and should not be underestimated.

"It is their actions which pushed Anna Podedworna to finally contact the police and tell us where we would find Izabela's body and where we discovered it."

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