The Brutal Murder of a Newlywed Marine and His Wife

4 other Marines were charged in the murder

On October 14, 2008, newly-wed interracial couple Jan and Quiana Pietrzak were gunned down in their Riverside County, California home by 4 intruders.

Jan Pietrzak was a United States Marine Corps Sergeant aged 24 and his wife, Quiana was 26 and worked for the Riverside County Public Health’s Black Infant Care Center. They had only been married for 2 months when police found them both dead in their living room. They had been shot execution-style in the head. They were also beaten and tortured prior to their deaths.

A few weeks after the murder, the police announced that 4 Marines were arrested. Surprisingly, 2 out of the 4 Marines had worked under the command of Pietrzak.

The 4 Marines accused of the murder were black. Yet there was controversy over whether the murder was racially motivated or whether it was just a case of a robbery gone wrong.

According to Judge Christian Theirbach, the murders were savage and the most inhuman he had seen in more than 25 years that he had been on the bench.

What would cause 4 Marines to go berserk and murder this young and beautiful couple?

A Short and Happy Life

Pietrzak was born in Poland in 1984. He was named in honor of Pope John Paul II. At the age of 10, Pietrzak emigrated to the United States with his family where they settled in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2003, Pietrzak joined the US Marine Corps. After doing a tour in Iraq as a helicopter mechanic, he returned to the US and started work at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

In 2005, Pietrzak met his future wife Quiana at a party for Marines who had toured in Iraq. Qiana had grown up in San Bernardino and had earned a Masters degree in public health at San Diego State. Quiana was initially hesitant about dating a Marine but Pietrzak won her over.

They got married on August 8, 2008. Life was good and they even bought a home in the quiet neighborhood of French County in Southern Riverside County in California. They also adopted a small dog and named him “Rambo.”

According to Pietrzak’s mother, Henryka Varga, the 67 days of married life they had before they lost their lives were some of the happiest days of their lives. Quiana’s mother, Faye Jenkins, also revealed that Pietrzak loved Quiana very much. On the day of their wedding, Pietrzak had tears in his eyes as he watched his beautiful bride walk down the aisle.

The couple had plans to have children in the future. Both their mothers were good friends and had a very strong bond. Their family life was great.

The Brutal Murder

On October 14, 2008, at 8:00 p.m., Quiana spoke with her mother. While she was talking to her mother, she set the alarm to the house. Later, her mother sent her a text at 9:47 p.m. but she never answered.

Four armed Marines went to Pietrzak’s house with masks on to cover their identities. Although the alarm had been set, the door was answered by Pietrzak holding a knife but the intruders were able to force their way in.

They restrained Quiana and started beating Pietrzak. They also searched the house for expensive jewelry, money, and credit and debit cards. In the meantime, Quiana was also raped.

Finally, they put couch cushions on Pietrzak and Quiana’s heads and shot them in the back of the head. Pietrzak was shot at least twice.

When Pietrzak and Quiana never showed up for work the next day, law enforcement was called to make a welfare check.

Deputy Matthew Hughes received the call to check up on the couple’s house. When he arrived, the front door was ajar and the house smelled of gas. He immediately called for backup.

Pietrzak and Quiana were found dead in the living room with both their wrists bound in duct tape. Pietrzak had been assaulted prior to being shot. He had injuries and bleeding sustained on his knees, legs, and head. He had also been stomped on because there were shoe patterns imprinted on his back.

Quiana was found naked and there was potential evidence of rape and sexual assault. Her stomach was found spray-painted with the letter “C.” There was also spray painting of racial slurs in the house.

Investigation and Trial

The Riverside police joined forces with the NCIS to investigate the murder. Based upon shoe impressions found at the murder scene, the investigators knew that there were at least 3 perpetrators of the crime.

The investigation finally led to the 4 Marines. There were 2 key pieces of evidence that were clues to the involvement of Marines in the murder.

The first was the presence of military gear in the house. Jewelry and other expensive items were stolen but the military gear remained untouched. Only someone who was already in the military would have bypassed stealing the military gear.

The second piece of evidence was seen on video. Someone wearing a blue bandanna over their face and wearing gloves with the word “Mechanix” written on them had used Quiana’s ATM pin code to withdraw money from her account. The ATM pin code was obtained by force when the murderers tortured the couple.

When the investigators started digging into Pietrzak’s Marine life, they found out that he could be a strict sergeant and was not very popular with all the Marines that he supervised. He had butted heads with one Marine, in particular, Lance Corporal Tyrone Miller.

The investigators questioned Lance Corporal Miller and they were able to obtain a search warrant for his house. They found ample evidence in the house linking Miller to Pietrzak and Quiana’s murder. The evidence included the presence of Quiana’s debit cards, the blue bandanna that was seen on the video by the ATM machine, Quiana and Pietrzak’s jewelry, shell casings found at the crime scene and the actual gun used in the murders.

Miller was immediately taken into custody where he confessed that he had 3 other Marine accomplices called Kevin Cox, Emry John, and Kesaun Sykes. It was determined that the 4 Marines led double lives serving as soldiers during the day and criminals at night.

According to Miller, the original intent was never robbery. He simply wanted to confront Pietrzak because he had been denied a promotion. He ended up taking his 3 Marine friends along with him for the ride and matters soon got out of control.

Tyrone Miller, Kesaun Sykes, and Emry John are currently on California’s death row. Only Kevin Cox was sentenced to life without parole.

To this day, Pietrzak’s mother believes that the murders were racially motivated. She even went so far as to request help from the Obama administration to get the case classified as a hate crime. However, a racial motivation for the murders was not pursued further and it remains classified as a robbery gone gravely wrong.

As for most of the Marines, this quote sums up what they must have felt about the murders,

Men who would deliberately do harm in such a brutal manner to a fellow Marine and his wife are a disgrace to the uniform — Sgt. Matt Erszkowicz, Purple Heart Awardee

Sources: Criminal discourse podcast, The Daily Mail, NY Daily News, CBS News, military.wikia.org

Here is more true crime from me in Chameleon: