The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office arrested all four members of the Polish death metal band Decapitated on charges of first-degree kidnapping Saturday in Santa Ana, California. The charges stemmed from an incident that took place in Spokane, WA on September 1.
According to a statement from the Spokane Police Department, the police recieved a call from the victim at 2 a.m., a few hours after the band performed with Thy Art is Murder at The Pin, in downtown Spokane. An officer responded and assisted the victim, before the report was sent to the Spokane Police's Special Victim’s Unit.
The four band members—Michal Mikolaj Lysejko, Waclaw Jan Kieltyka, Rafal Tomasz Piotrowski and Hubert Edward Wiecek—were taken into custody without incident in Santa Ana, and booked into jail, where they will face extradition to Spokane.
The band's attorney, Steve Graham, maintained the band's innocence. “There is another side to this,” he told The Spokesman-Review. “We have witnesses that can testify to the fact that the accuser came to visit the band of her own free will and left on good terms.”
Graham added that the band would not fight the forthcoming extradition.
Thy Art is Murder have not yet indicated whether or not they will continue their tour without Decapitated.
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
