Capital murder suspect pleads not guilty
A local man accused of killing three friends earlier this week in a dispute over stolen property pleaded not guilty to three counts of capital murder Friday morning during a video arraignment in Garland County District Court.
Nicholas Matthew Lewondowski, 34, who was on parole at the time of the murders, appeared before Judge Ralph Ohm via video from the Garland County Detention Center where he is being held without bail and pleaded not guilty to the charges, each punishable by the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Police continued to decline to release the names, genders or cause of death of the three victims on Friday, pending positive identification by the state crime lab where the bodies were sent, and notification
of next of kin.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham filed a motion Friday to limit pretrial publicity in the case, including social media, and the subsequent gag order was granted by Ohm.
Mark Frasier, Lewondowski’s court-appointed attorney, filed a motion requesting a drug test for his client to be conducted immediately after the arraignment with Lewondowski’s consent. The results are to be forwarded to Fraiser, Graham and Ohm’s court clerk.
A felony review hearing is now set for Jan. 22 in district court to determine if the charges will be bound over to Garland County Circuit Court. Ohm ruled Lewondowski, who also has a parole hold on him, would remain in custody without bond.
The bodies of the victims were found around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday inside a residence at 208 Nevada St. when police conducted a welfare check based on information received from a witness who said Lewondowski had taken him there earlier, according to the affidavit for Lewondowski’s arrest.
Lewondowski allegedly asked the witness for help in disposing of the bodies and then nailed the doors shut at the residence, reportedly telling the witness he “would just burn the residence down.”
Lewondowski, who lists a Carl Drive address, was taken into custody without incident at 347 Little Mazarn Road at around 7 a.m. Wednesday after detectives learned he was at a residence there, police said in a news release.
The witness told police Lewondowski and three of his friends had visited him at the witness’ residence on Monday. At one point, Lewondowski and the three others got into an argument about one member of the group stealing from another member.
The witness, who reportedly only knew the three victims by their first names, said Lewondowski got agitated with all three of them and they then got into a vehicle and drove to what the witness believed was one friend’s residence on Nevada Street. Lewondowski later allegedly told the witness he had killed the three friends and needed his help.
Lewondowski asked the witness to help him move the victims’ vehicles to different locations. He then told him he would contact him in a day or so for help in disposing of the bodies. After their conversation, the witness called police.
When police responded to the Nevada Street residence, they reportedly found the rear door standing open and found the bodies of the three victims inside lying in pools of blood. The affidavit did not indicate the manner of death.
Lewondowski has a lengthy criminal history dating back more than 15 years and including more than 14 prior felony convictions, including a conviction for second-degree battery in 2003. He was charged with first-degree battery on Aug. 27, 2016, involving an attack on a fellow inmate at the jail, but the charge was later withdrawn for further investigation.