Former Kansas City Detective Roger Golubski Bullied at Least One Woman Into Marrying Him

In the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2024, the body of disgraced Kanas City, Kans. police detective Roger Golubski was found in his home. He was scheduled to stand trial that day for charges of rape and kidnapping that go back several years, reported CNN. When law enforcement arrived at his house, they discovered Golubski had died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death is under investigation.

Golubski was accused of using his power as a police officer to sexually assault vulnerable Black women throughout a career that spanned decades. Countless women were hopefully going to see justice served. That's not all Golubski allegedly did. In his personal life, he was apparently just as manipulative and ruthless. Here's what we know about his family.

In November 2020, Golubski was forced to answer a series of questions under oath as part of a civil lawsuit brought against him, and the local government in Kansas City, per KCUR. Though he mostly pleaded the fifth, there is one question Golubski answered and that was regarding the number of times he had been married. "Um, a lady by the name of Patty, Cindy, Donna," he said. "And if you count, um, uh, annulments, then there'd be four. Uh, Ethel."

It was Ethel Abbot whom KCUR managed to speak with in March 2022, and she had a lot to say about her time with Golubski. They met in the early 1990s when Abbott was in her early twenties. Golubski, who had a son at that time, had been on the police force for 15 years and was investigating a murder at the gas station where Abbott worked. She wasn't there when it happened, but he still brought her in for questioning.

Golubski reportedly wanted her to say a particular person was responsible, but she didn't want to lie. He continued to harass Abbott and wear her down while also showing a romantic interest in her. She had a boyfriend, but Golubski started pulling him over repeatedly until he finally broke up with her. Abbott struggled financially so Golubski used that to his advantage by suddenly paying all of her bills. "He just made it feasible for me to have this easy life," she explained. He won and she agreed to date him.

After Abbott folded and agreed to marry Golubski, she moved into his house in Edwardsville where her two children could attend better schools. Things were great for a few years until people from Abbott's old neighborhood started telling her that Golubski was sleeping with sex workers in exchange for drugs. She wasn't sure who to believe until an upsetting exchange with Golubski caused Abbott to exact revenge on the man who forced her to marry him.

While lying in bed one evening Abbott, who is Black, asked Gobluski why he enjoyed sleeping with Black women. "Because they're uneducated," he reportedly replied. Enraged, she spent $50,000 on his credit card the next day but didn't leave him. What finally did it was practically catching Gobluski in the act, when Abbott says she spotted him driving around with two sex workers. "And at that point, I just said, ‘I'm out. I want out.'"

They divorced after five years of marriage, though Abbott later found out Gobluski had had the marriage annulled soon after they wed. He didn't take the split very well and began stalking her. The most frightening moment came when he pulled her over one evening while she was with her sister. Abbott said she saw him putting on gloves as he approached the car. When she rolled down her window, he reportedly grabbed Abbott by a necklace he gifted her and began strangling the frightened woman. Her sister was able to call 911.

She was able to file a police report and was told the department ordered Gobluski to stay away from her. Still, Abbott never forgot that last time and has always maintained she could have died that night.