The enduring mystery surrounding the disappearance of a woman, whose body was uncovered 15 years later beneath a patio, has taken a new twist. Her daughter has revealed details of a conversation about ‘gender reassignment’ surgery that occurred shortly before the woman vanished.
Katarzyna Zablocka, known as Kasia, now 25, recounted that her mother, Izabela, who met a tragic end at the age of 30, sometimes portrayed herself more as a male than a female. This revelation comes as part of the ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death.
Izabela had been in a relationship with their neighbor in Poland, Anna Podedworna. However, according to Kasia, Podedworna had a preference for men. This relationship dynamic is under scrutiny as Podedworna, now 40, faces trial for the alleged murder of Ms. Zablocka, as well as charges related to hindering a lawful burial and obstructing justice. Podedworna has denied all charges.
The grim discovery of Ms. Zablocka’s body took place in June of last year, beneath a hardstanding area in the garden of a Derby home that the two women once shared. The court has heard that Ms. Zablocka had suffered a violent death, her body dismembered, bound with electrical tape, and concealed in plastic bin bags. The timeline of her death is believed to be between August 28 and October 1, 2010.
Ms Zablocka’s body was found buried under hardstanding in the garden of a home the two women later shared in Derby in June last year.
She had been dismembered, bound with electrical tape and her remains put in two plastic bin bags having suffered a ‘violent death’ some time between August 28 and October 1 in 2010, a court heard.
Jurors have been told Podedworna cut Ms Zablocka’s body in half using skills she learned while employed as a butcher and then ‘got on with her life as normal’ – including having two children with a local man before containing Derbyshire Police in 2025 saying she knew where her former partner could be found.
Katarzyna Zablocka, now 25, was just 10 when her mother went missing in 2010
Katarzyna Zablocka and her mother Izabela, who died aged 30
Anna Podedworna, 40, is on trial accused of Ms Zablocka’s murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice which she denies
Derby Crown Court has been told Podedworna told a Polish journalist who travelled to the UK to interview her about Miss Zablocka’s disappearance that she had made it ‘a condition’ of their relationship continuing that Ms Zablocka undergo gender reassignment surgery but Ms Zablocka had later lost interest causing conflict between them.
Giving evidence via video link from Poland on Wednesday, Miss Zablocka agreed her mother ‘sometimes tried to present herself more as a male than a female’.
She said her mother did not discuss changing gender with her but said ‘I overheard when they [her mother and Podedworna] were talking between themselves about changing my mother’s gender’.
Miss Zablocka, the victim’s daughter from a previous relationship, said she was aged around seven when her mother started a relationship with Podedworna, who lived in the same block of flats in Trzebiatow, north-west Poland.
She told jurors their relationship was ‘volatile and tense’ and recalled an incident in 2009 when Podedworna chased her mother with a kitchen knife following a row at a family party.
Asked about the arguments, which she said followed the consumption of alcohol, she said: ‘From my point of view as a child and from what I heard they were mainly about jealously between my mother and Anna.
‘This was a relationship between two women but what I noticed about Anna was that she preferred men.’
Recalling her mother, she said she had ‘very good’ memories of the time they spent together. ‘My mother was interested in my life, she played with me, she took me to school and we spent lots of time together,’ she said.
In 2009 her mother and Podedworna moved to the UK in search of work, leaving Miss Zablocka, then aged nine, in the care of relatives.
Miss Zablocka, in a black roll neck jumper, black trousers and with long hair worn lose, said her mother ‘left to make money…so I could have a better life’.
The two women found work at a local poultry factory. Miss Zablocka told jurors she spoke to her mother three times a week on the phone until the calls stopped abruptly in August 2010.
When she tried to call her mother after that a woman she did not know answered before hanging up.
Ms Zablocka said she had ‘very good’ memories of the time they spent together.
Recalling their last phone call which she said took place either on August 26 or 27, 2010 she said: ‘We talked about the usual stuff – school, nothing too exciting.’
Miss Zablocka, said she contacted authorities in Poland who took her mother’s wedding veil to obtain a DNA sample, as well as missing persons charities and made appeals in the media.
Jurors were told previously that in May last year TV journalist Rafal Zalewski contacted Podedworna requesting an interview.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC called it the ‘tipping point’ for Podedworna. Soon after she was contacted by Mr Zalewski she emailed Derbyshire Police.
She then went to a police station and told officers Ms Zablocka died in an ‘accident’ during a violent confrontation and the remains were found during a search days later.
The trial continues.
