Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994                   TAG: 9406140144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIENNA                                LENGTH: Medium

A YEAR LATER, MYSTERY STILL SHROUDS BUILDER'S DEATH

The case quickly became a major mystery, a tale colored by a nightmarish custody battle, suicide and an unexplained disappearance.

The saga continues, with a murder trial scheduled to start this summer, pending lawsuits, and a police investigation covering three states - Virginia, West Virginia and Florida.

For months after the June 10, 1993, killing, police scrambled for clues. They chased scores of leads before settling on this conclusion: Kowalczyk's former father-in-law, Stanley Hyman of McLean, paid to have him killed.

Hyman, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, wanted to avenge bad blood between Kowalczyk and Hyman's daughter, police said. To do the job, he allegedly hired Ralph Shambaugh Jr., a maintenance worker at a resort Hyman frequented in West Virginia.

Hyman and his wife, Jacqueline, denied any involvement in the Kowalczyk slaying. Just as police were closing in, however, the Hymans were found dead in a Florida condominium. Police called it a murder-suicide.

Shambaugh later was arrested and charged with capital murder, conspiring with Hyman and using a firearm. Shambaugh, 33, is jailed in Fairfax County and faces trial Aug. 23. He claims he is innocent.

"He was absolutely in love with life," said Lisa Zumwalt, 40, who was engaged to marry Kowalczyk when he died. "He always had time for the people he loved."

At the time of his death, Kowalczyk, 38, was barred from seeing his 9-year-old son and was permitted to visit a 12-year-old son only once a week because of a bitter custody dispute with his ex-wife.

Kowalczyk was waiting to drop off the older boy after a visit when he was shot. The boy discovered his father's body.

Kowalczyk's former wife, Katherine, has moved away from Northern Virginia with her two sons and has refused to discuss the case.

Police still want to know why the Hymans killed themselves and details of the alleged murder plot.

Police say they don't know who hatched the alleged plan or decided to shoot Kowalczyk while his son was present.

And they want to know the whereabouts of James Alting, 38, a friend of Shambaugh's who disappeared nine days after Kowalczyk was slain.

Police searching Alting's home in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., found a piece of paper with Stanley Hyman's telephone number and a matchbook from the Wolf Trap Motel in Vienna, not far from the parking lot where Kowalczyk was shot. But Alting's role in the case remains unclear.

"I don't think he had anything to do with what happened in Vienna, but you never know," said Alting's father, Robert.

Some details could emerge at Shambaugh's trial. Others could come in a $10 million civil lawsuit filed by Kowalczyk's sister against the Hyman estate and Shambaugh; that case is set for trial in January.