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Angelo Mantych is charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the 2016 death of Marina Placensia.
DENVER — The boyfriend of a woman who was killed on a train en route to Denver in September 2016 has been arrested on a first-degree murder charge, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said.
Angelo Mantych, 41, was arrested Monday. He’s charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Marina Placensia, 28. Prosecutors said Placensia was Mantych’s girlfriend and a mother of four young children, three of whom she had with Mantych.
According to an arrest affidavit, Placensia, Mantych, and their four children took a train from Wisconsin to Denver. When the Amtrak train arrived at Union Station on Sept. 1, 2016, the affidavit says, Placensia was deceased.
The affidavit says Mantych told officers at the time that he, Placensia and their children had been living in Racine, Wisconsin and were moving back to Denver. He told officers he had tried to wake Placensia about 20 minutes before they were to arrive in Denver, but was unable to wake her since she was a “heavy sleeper.” He told officers he tried to wake her again about 10 minutes before their arrival and got no response.
“He then realized something was wrong and asked for help,” the affidavit says.
Police noticed multiple bruises on Placensia’s body “that appeared consistent with an assault or struggle,” the affidavit says.
An autopsy was unable to determine the cause and manner of Placensia’s death.
When asked about the bruises, the affidavit says, Mantych told officers Placensia was “banged up from moving” furniture out of their home in Wisconsin.
As the family was leaving Union Station, the affidavit says, Placensia’s brother told officers to “look into Angelo because he is abusive.”
Police interviewed other passengers and employees on the train. None of them reported seeing any problems with the family during the trip, the affidavit says.
Over the next year, according to the affidavit, police spoke with numerous friends and neighbors. Many of them reported a history of physical abuse against Placensia by Mantych, the affidavit says.
In September 2022, the affidavit says, Dr. Bill Smock agreed to review the case. The affidavit says Smock is a nationally recognized expert on strangulation and suffocation, and agreed to help in possibly determining the cause and manner of Placensia’s death.
Smock concluded that Placensia died of suffocation and that her death was a homicide. Investigators received a copy of Smock’s report in September, the affidavit says.
This month, police went to Wisconsin to conduct more interviews with people who knew Placensia. Those witnesses also described numerous instances of abuse by Mantych, the affidavit says.
A warrant was issued for Mantych’s arrest and he was booked into jail on Monday, according to court records. He is set to appear in court Wednesday morning.
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