By NICHOLAS LEDDEN and JOHN STANG
The Daily Inter Lake
The suspect in the murder of a Columbia Falls mother of six surrendered to authorities Monday after a 31-hour armed standoff with police.
Robert Dean Kowalski, 46, quickly was surrounded by members from three SWAT teams after slowly exiting his Montana 35 home with his arms raised.
"We're very happy this standoff is over," Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan said. The incident shut down a portion of Montana 35 for about 24 hours.
Kowalski's 6:08 p.m. surrender followed a barrage of approximately 15 ferret rounds - 40 mm canisters that discharge non-flammable irritant gas.
"We really didn't want to escalate the situation if we didn't have to," Meehan said.
Negotiators had been communicating with Kowalski throughout the day, sometimes with the aid of a wheeled robot with a mechanical arm and sometimes by bullhorn.
Authorities would have resumed negotiations had the gas failed to drive Kowalski out of the house, Meehan said.
Investigators believe Kowalski fled to his residence Sunday morning after murdering his girlfriend, 45-year-old Lorraine Kay Morin.
Morin was found shot to death Sunday morning in her home on Montana 206, a few hundred feet north of Elk Park Road.
Kowalski's roommate, who was not in their home at the time, called the Sheriff's Office at 11 a.m. Sunday to report that Kowalski told him he had killed his girlfriend and was feeling suicidal. Investigators believe that Morin died hours before the 911 call.
Deputies responding to Morin's home found her body sitting upright in a living-room chair. She had been shot once in the mouth, possibly with a small-caliber handgun. Her body was sent to the state crime lab in Missoula for a forensic autopsy.
Morin is the mother of six children, ages 9 to 28. The younger children reportedly are staying with their adult siblings.
Investigators on Sunday afternoon found Kowalski's Ford Ranger pickup truck at his house on Montana 35, just east of Fairmont Road.
The Flathead County SWAT team, which later would be joined by teams from Kalispell and Missoula County, began surrounding the house at about 2 p.m.
For five hours, no one knew if Kowalski was alive, dead or even in the house. Several phone calls from negotiators went unanswered.
Officers parked the Kalispell Police Department's Ballistic Engineered Armored Response vehicle, or BEAR, within 20 feet of Kowalski's home and tried to reach him on a phone dropped on his front door. Kowalski did not respond.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, authorities closed Montana 35 between Fairmont and Montford roads. After officers broke some windows in Kowalski's home and used cameras to map the inside of the five- or six-room house, Kowalski began swearing at officers - which confirmed his presence in the house.
Just before midnight, police heard a single shot ring out from the rear of the residence. Investigators are unsure whether the shot was aimed at law enforcement, Meehan said.
Kowalski continued to talk with negotiators until about 3 a.m., after which he was silent until Monday afternoon.
Kowalski has been charged in Flathead County District Court with one count of deliberate homicide in connection to Morin's death.
If convicted, he faces up to 110 years or life in prison.
"We were all worried this would happen to [his ex-wife] Beth" Stanislow of Libby, said Kowalski's former sister-in-law, Dawn Stanislow of Carlsbad, Calif.
Kowalski suffers from bipolar disorder, according to both Dawn Stanislow and Kowalski's friend and former employer, John Endsley of Bigfork, who has a tree-digging business.
"If he was on his meds, he was a pretty decent fellow. If not, he could get pretty wild," Endsley said.
Dawn Stanislow said: "He has a very split personality. He's very bipolar. My first encounter with him - I thought something was off."
"He was very sweet at times. He had a quirky sense of humor," Dawn Stanislow continued. Once, he mowed a heart for Beth Stanislow in the weeds of their lawn.
But he could switch personalities quickly - often with alcohol as a trigger.
"When he was drunk and wanted something his way, he could be a temper-trantrum-throwing little boy," Dawn Stanislow said.
When Sunday's siege began of Kowalski's house, law officers heard from one of his friends that he was suicidal.
That was in character with his past.
"He has been threatening to hang himself for years," Dawn Stanislow said.
Kowalski, who reportedly had a stormy relationship with Beth Stanislow, has a history of domestic violence, Meehan said.
He and Beth Stanislow were married for five years, splitting for good last year.
"She kept going back and forth with him," Dawn Stanislow said.
Beth Stanislow could not be reached for comment Monday.
Flathead County Justice Court records show that authorities cited Kowalski for:
n Assaulting a family member and violating a restraining order at his Bigfork home on July 25, 2003.
n Threatening, kicking and pushing Beth Stanislow plus threatening a stepson on Nov. 23, 2005, in the Bigfork area. He also was cited for drunken driving on the same date.
Kowalski pleaded guilty and was fined in both cases, court records show.
More recently, on Feb. 21 this year, Kowalski sought a restraining order against Stanislow to keep her away from him, his girlfriend Morin and two of her sons, his shop and his home. Kowalski alleged that Stanislow poured gasoline in his shop and broke some windows.
His shop, Commercial Machine Services, is located at the same site as Morin's house - 2575 Montana 206.
Lincoln County court records show that Beth Stanislow and Kowalski feuded in late 2006 over whether he owed her money relating to her house in Libby. That case was dismissed.
Kowalski had been married prior to meeting Beth Stanislow, and has two sons, Dawn Stanislow said.
Kowalski reportedly has worked a variety of jobs: in a grocery store, at Semitool, as a self-employed machine mechanic and has a yard man. Many years ago, he was an engineer for the Boeing Co., Dawn Stanislow said.
"He was kind of a jack-of-all-trades," Endsley said.
According to Mary Bissell of Bigfork, who has employed Kowalski as a yard man for four years, "He was very good at whatever he did. … Everyone I know who has met him, likes him."
Kowalski was creative at figuring out solutions to mechanical and yard problems, said Bissell and Carol Roda of Bigfork, who with her husband, Richard, also employed Kowalski as a yard man for at least two years.
Roda, Bissell and Endsley described Kowalski as friendly but quiet - as well as a good and reliable worker. Bissell and Roda never saw any indication of Kowalski having a temper.
"He's a doll. I'm just really shocked," Roda said. "I'm really upset about this."
Kowalski routinely set up a stand at Bigfork's annual Festival of the Arts and taught children how to sift and pan for gold flakes, Bissell said.
"He really likes children. He's excellent with children," she said.
Kowalski also enjoys the outdoors, including hunting and fishing.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com and reporter John Stang can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com
TattooCharlie
Just another example of someone losing their life from our flawed justice system. This guy should have been in prison and/or a secured treatment facility. It's just sad.
campo
I don't want to read about good he is with children and how everyone likes this drunken moron. He is a murderer!! I am irritated we will all have to pay to put him on trial, then feed him and board him for the rest of his stinking life. If he was too scared to shoot himself, they should have used that robot to take him a rope.
Elkhorn
This loser should have been locked up long ago. Just another piece of white trash that the Flathead Valley loves to put up with. Get rid of the trailer courts and the meth and junk like this won't happen
photoguy
I see nothing in the article that mentions either trailers or drugs? So that has nothing to do with this, that was a simple swipe to invoke reactions...
Kalispell Native
Remember when people were saying the community doesn't need the armored vehicle that was donated to us? How do you like your crow served?
vleo
Way to put it Kalispell Native, thats funny. I am glad they were able to use it, and it worked just as planned. Great job to all the Tactical Teams involved. I just find it funny, they go in fast and end up killing someone a year ago, people get all up in arms. Now they wait and take it slow, and some of the same people all get up in arms again. Can't win them all, at least it ended with all the officers safe, and able to go home and see thier kids.
MrMark
And just what, exactly, did that big rolling hunk of metal do in this case? Ohh, we see a picture of one of the officers inside shooting a tear gas grenade into the house that they should have done about 12 hours earlier! And we were going to talk some more if that didn't work. And oh-my-goodness, they didn't want to escalate the issue any further, but we've seen dozens of times on tv news when it did just that! This was one of the shoddiest examples of police intervention that I've seen! Now, I'm not saying that that vehicle is in anyway a bad thing. But let's not get all misty eyed about how great it is when, at least from what can be gleaned from the story, wasn't used to it's fullest capacity. Hell, with the guy pinned down the way he was, his attention being drawn to a negotiator, anyone could have walked right in and blown him away, which is all the butt scum deserved anyway!
Don
That's the coolest SUV I have ever seen! The hummer crowd is probably sayin', I gotta get me one of them!! Really BIG and gets really BAD gas mileage! Yes sir...
MrMark
Sorry. Shouldn't have referred to the posterior!
MTMama
No crow here....I still think it was a waste. The money spent on that thing could have been put to much better use within the department.
wkc
I am still trying to figure out what a trailer court has to do with this??? I have two of my close family members who live in trailer courts with three of my nieces. Couldn't be better people, so that comment is just silly. I also grew up here and I lived in a trailer court when I was a little girl, a long time ago. It isn't like Montana just started to have them! Some people are just plain and simply snobs. Things like this can happen anywhere that violent people circulate,which unfortunately is about anywhere in general. I just want to express my sadness for Rainie and her children. I am so sorry for what happened to your mom!
photoguy
MT the dept didn't waste anything on this vehicle, it was donated to them by a citizen...
MrMark
They did waste a lot of tax payer money though! 31 freakin' hours of chit-chat with a scum-bag that admitted he did it. The only thing that I can hope they were doing during their chats was trying to convince him to go ahead and put a hole in his sorry ass head.
faithful reader
No one is really paying any attention or responding to you MrMark. Did you notice?
voiceofreason
The money was donated only for the vehicle. It was an all or nothing deal. If they didnt take the truck then they would have gotten nothing. So you want them to say no?
PDwife
MrMark - Boy are you irriating complaining about all the overtime that these officers put in that apparently YOUR sorry ass paid for!! Maybe stop to consider that some of these guys missed their child's birthday just so they could 'rack up' some overtime. Or maybe, possibly they didn't go in there because it was an unsecured location with a suicidal man who would probably love nothing more than take out as many officers as possible on his own misserable way out. What does he have to lose?? Nothing! But these officers are very concerned for their OWN safety and coming home to their wives and children. Storming a house with many rooms and hiding places was never an option! Even gassing the house - THEY still have to go in there. And in case you think that these guys are out there intentionally racking up overtime so that they can spend their days off living in the lap of luxury - think again! They are currently in a fight with the city to get enough money just to keep up with the cost of living! So, for those of us who have to clip coupons for groceries, can't afford
PDwife
...my rant got so long I was cut off - so let me close with this: For those of us who hope to God we didn't just kiss our husbands for the last time as they go to work, we would collectively appreciate it if you would shut your hole and just appreciate the protection they provide when YOU are the one who has to call 911.
vleo
PDWife. Well put. All those officers out there at that scene did an awsome job. What I find interesting, is this, if the first SRT or SWAT Team there would have made a quick judgement to raid that house, and someone got hurt or killed, all these people crying about it taking to long, would be saying that they should have waited. Can't win them all. Can't please everyone, only know for yourself they did the right thing.
MrMark
PD, you're messing with the wrong guy here. Give me a break both of you (PD and vleo). These guys are supposed to be professionals aren't they? I certainly wouldn't expect them to rush in blindly or without forethought. I would say about 8 hours of forethought would have been sufficient. Not 31 for cryin' out loud. Why didn't they start lobbing gas at about 5 or 6 hours? Were they working on their negotiating skills? And what about all those hours that they weren't even in contact with the scum bag? Can you please explain that? Oh yeah. They were probably sittin' around talking about their kids birthday party they were missing. They could have wrapped this thing up in a third of the time and been back home, safe and sound. And please. Don't tell me about the cost of living. Your hubbie is making a lot more than me and don't you forget for 1 minute who is paying his salary. TAXPAYERS lady. Taxpayers.
vleo
MrMark, everyone can sit back and armchair quarterback this. I was not right there at the Command unit, but can tell you, they did a good job. Might have taken longer then everyone hoped, but still got done. I would offer to you, if you are really concerned about the taxpayers paying so much for Law Enforcement, join in and help out. You can join the Reserves and or the Posse. Both of these help out the tax payers of Flathead County a lot, by offering "free" manpower, when the Sheriff or other LE Agencies need help. If you are really concerned about the burden of the taxpayers, this is a way I have found helps.
PDwife
I'm not PDwife - I'm the husband. I've never been on here before but was interested to hear my wife talk about some of the comments. Thank you so much to those who's comments were supportive of Law Enforcement's actions on the incident. To those who's comments weren't so positive, maybe clearing up a couple things might help -- probably won't but I'll try. Law Enforcement's goal is to save lives, not take them if it can be avoided. In a situation where there is no immediate threat, as in this case, the agency head, or someone high up in the chain of command makes the decision as to how long to wait. They have budgets to keep and I guarantee, they don't like spending money they don't have to. Those making the decisions have extensive experience and knowledge regarding these incidents and how best to increase their chances of achieving a peaceful end. I would guess they have much more knowledge in this area than MrMark. Mr Kowalski was responsible for this incident - not the officers present. We in Law Enforcement cannot assume the role of judge, jury or executioner. Our job is to protect lives and keep
MrMark
I do want to go on record and say that I totally respect our city police, county sheriff, SWAT and all of our great law enforcement and their families. I'm sure they were frustrated by having to sit on their hands for 31 hours too! I could never do what they do. God bless them all. However, someone commanding this whole thing is a pussy. (I should have said that from the beginning!)And what Liberal wouldn't think that it wasn't a job well done? How can you not question why it took so long? How can you not wonder why a couple of dozen of our "finest" were held off by a single creep that wanted to kill himself to begin with? And you know what I would have been doing if I had been working with them? I'd be screaming, "Get that F'er now!!!"
MrMark
Oh yeah. They have extensive experience. That's why we continue to see this kind of thing happen every other month, huh? Some clown knows he isn't going to pay the ultimate price by just holding off 2 or 3 dozen heavily armored troops for 31 or 45 or whatever hours. You people are going to go to the grave believing that we are not the judge, jury and executioner. I'm not saying that that is always the answer. Maybe not even this time. But 31 hours is way too long.