July 19, 2003

Nowicki reports would-be arsonist

       The prime suspect in Brookley Louks’ disappearance continues to experience harassment at his White River Township residence, following his release from federal custody due to his terminal illness.  Joseph Nowicki told county sheriff’s deputies that someone threw a Molotov cocktail against his house in an apparent attempt to set it on fire.  Nowicki reported that at 12:02 a.m. July 12, he saw someone walking down his driveway on Old Smith Valley Road carrying a burning object.  Nowicki said that when he turned on his spotlight, the intruder threw the object toward the house and ran away.  The projectile, a glass bottle with flammable liquid inside and a burning cloth in the spout, bounced off Nowicki’s house but set a shrub on fire.  The would-be arsonist fled into a car parked nearby and drove away, Nowicki reported.  Jim Engmark, spokesman for the White River Township Fire Department, said the Molotov cocktail caused no damage to the house.  It was doubtful that fingerprints could be obtained from the shattered glass, however.  In the days following Nowicki’s July 2 release from a federal prison, his wife, Janet Nowicki, complained that intruders nailed signs to a tree, tampered with a motion detector and set off fireworks in the couple’s yard.  The sheriff’s department has increased patrols to Nowicki’s neighborhood.  A federal judge released Nowicki after doctors have concluded the 54-year-old man is dying of cancer and has two months to live.  Greenwood police consider Nowicki the only suspect in the disappearance of 19-year-old Brookley Louks last year.  Nowicki denies involvement.  A Johnson County grand jury will convene July 29 to consider whether or not to bring a murder charge against Nowicki.     (reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

  

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