Kettering murder detectives appeal directly to Lithuanian community

Police investigating the murder of a 51-year-old man found murdered in a flooded Kettering flat have launched a poster campaign to encourage Lithuanian people to come forward with information.
The police poster in LithuanianThe police poster in Lithuanian
The police poster in Lithuanian

Northamptonshire Police have shared posters appealing for information about the death of Juozas Meilunas on social media in both English and Lithuanian.

They hope that the Lithuanian community in the north of the county will help them piece together Mr Meilunas’s last moments so they can establish how he came to be murdered.

Juozas MeilunasJuozas Meilunas
Juozas Meilunas
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Mr Meilunas was well-known in the town as he sat in a regular spot outside Kettering library most days during the summer.

His body was found in a flat 5, Woodlands Court, Wood Lane, after a leak was reported coming from there on Boxing Day. When officers arrived at about 6.30pm, they found it badly flooded.

They discovered the 51-year-old’s body after a search in the former shoe factory.

Initially, on Thursday, December 27, officers announced only that they had launched an ‘investigation’ into the incident, and then a day later they declared that they believed Mr Meilunas had been murdered.

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A Home Office Pathologist was called in to help identify his remains after officers said his body had been in the flat ‘for some time’.

He was formally named the following day and officers said he had lived in the Kettering area for the past year.

Detectives have not revealed whether Mr Meilunas had been killed in the flat or murdered elsewhere then moved.

Neighbours said they believed the flat had been empty for some time and that local children had broken into the property, which is accessed by a steep metal staircase, earlier this year.

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Local people said they had not noticed any smell coming from the flat but there was a smashed window to the front of the property which has been boarded up.

Officers have conducted house-to-house enquiries.

The East Midlands Special Operations Unit Major Crime Team has been called in to run the investigation. They say Mr Meilunas was killed at some point ‘in the last few months’ and have appealed to local people to tell them when they last saw the victim, or any activity at the flat.

They say that they believe the incident might have occurred some time between the end of summer and autumn.

Anyone who can help the investigation is urged to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800