MISSING
Dr. Sylwester Gładyś
Warsaw - Młociny Park
24.02.2026
HELP US FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY AND FIND ANY POSSIBLE TRACE
We are looking for our Dad, Sylwester Gładyś. On February 24, 2026, our Dad went for a walk in the Młociński Park in Warsaw's Bielany district and did not return. All indications suggest that he reached the area near the Vistula River, and it is very likely that he slipped and fell into the water.
Family, friends, and volunteers continue their tireless search on land and in the river.
Our Dad is 185 cm tall, weighs approximately 120 kg, has gray hair, a mustache, a beard, and wears glasses. On the day of his disappearance, he was wearing blue jeans, a red jacket, a dark flat cap, and he had nordic walking poles with him.Sylwester Gladys suffers from Parkinson's disease, but thanks to medication, he lived independently. The medication was left at home, and he could not function independently without it long term.
Walking along Vistula River, please pay attention to:
• a distinctive red jacket with yellow „Barn Truck Rental” branding,
• La Sportiva trekking boots in navy blue (model shown in visualization),
• Black Diamond trekking poles,
• dark navy denim trousers,
• a navy flat cap with a subtle check pattern,
• a wallet containing an ID card and payment cards,
• a Samsung smartphone,
• a bunch of keys (home/car) along with vehicle documents,
• prescription glasses in frames,
• a Citizen men's sports watch
Clothing photo gallery
Circumstances of disappearance
- findings to date.
24.02.2026
Warszawa - Młociny - Park Młociński
February 24, 2026 – day of disappearance
Sylwester Gladys left home in Warsaw's Bielany district for a walk and never returned.
Everything indicated a routine outing – an open computer where he was preparing a lecture, a used tea glass, and a balcony door left open to air out the apartment.
After 4:00 PM, our Dad took his trekking poles out of the car, put a swimming bag in the trunk for the pool session he planned to attend after his walk as he did every Tuesday, threw out the trash, and headed out.
CCTV footage shows him entering Młociński Park and heading toward the Vistula River. Analysis of the surveillance records has not shown him leaving this area.
At 5:28 PM, the last known signal from our Dad's phone was recorded in Młociński Park, though without a precise location.
Tracking dogs picked up his scent and led searchers to the vicinity of a path by the river, where the trail ended.
Dogs searching the woods did not indicate any location where a body might be found.
Since that moment, we have had no confirmed trace of him.
Młociński Park has been thoroughly searched. Police, search groups, and volunteers have ruled out this terrain. There are no traces of our Dad on city or private monitoring systems after he entered the park.
Dad's walking route on February 24, 2026, reconstructed using CCTV and tracking dogs
Search operations and documentation
27.02.2026
The phone has remained silent for two days. Concerned relatives check the apartment, but Sylwester Gładyś is not there. They confirm that the man did not return for the night of February 24 and had no travel plans. The matter is immediately reported to the nearest police station. Large-scale search operations are launched urgently, coordinated by the family and a wide circle of volunteers.
News of the disappearance quickly spreads online. Family, friends, students, and scouts head to the Młociński Forest and Młociński Park. Groups comb through Bielański Forest and neighboring areas of Warsaw. Missing person notices appear throughout the neighborhood. The family appeals to local residents and housing communities to share surveillance camera recordings.
Thanks to gathered surveillance evidence, the family determined that Sylwester Gładys was in Młociny Park, though no camera captured the moment of his exit. Only at this stage did the Police join the search, dispatching rescue teams. From that point on, every meter of brushwood and the riverbanks were combed through with even greater intensity. The operation was supported by drones and tracking dogs. The police analyzed surveillance footage frame by frame to find even the slightest trace. The tracking dogs' trail led to a path by the river and then ended abruptly.
WhatsApp and Facebook groups were established to coordinate search efforts, which are divided into land-based observations of the banks and river, drone monitoring, and search operations on the water.
Search on land
From March to August 2026, the family and volunteers cover tens of thousands of kilometers along the Vistula River, carefully observing its banks as well as all sandbars and parts of the riverbed appearing as the water level drops during the drought. Hundreds of posters are put up along the river. During one of the search-on-foot operations in April, the body of another missing person is found. Despite the enormous commitment and intensive search, no traces have been found that could confirm the presence of Sylwester Gładyś in the Vistula.
Search in river
Since March 2026, specialized search operations for Sylwester Gładyś have been conducted repeatedly on the Vistula River using boats, sonars, drones, and dogs trained to search for human remains. Water rescue teams, firefighters, divers, and volunteers are involved in these efforts. Consecutive sections of the Vistula from Warsaw heading north are being searched, with operations covering increasingly distant reaches of the river over time. During one major operation on April 25, search groups located the bodies of two other missing persons. However, no trace of Sylwester Gładyś was found. Summaries of individual search operations can be found on the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grupaposzukiwawczasylwestragladysia.
28.02.2026
01-03.02.2026
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all individuals, services, and organizations who joined the search for Dad, dedicating their time, strength, knowledge, and equipment.
In particular, we thank OSP ORW Łódź, WOPR Brzeg, the Upper Silesian Search and Rescue Group, OSP Białołęka, OSP Dziekanów Polski, the Anikar Search and Rescue Group, and Marina Modlin.
We extend our deepest gratitude primarily to Daniel Dymiński, as well as to: Maria Budzyk, Ola Brejnak, Gosia Grabowska, Rebbeca Jutkowitz, Honorata Kożuchowska, Tomek Lewicki and the Aquazone team, Tomek Marasek, Anna Matusiak, Anna NK, Nurek Detektorysta, Sławek Sobotka, Agata and Marcin Stecewicz, Michał Szpila, Paweł Szymczak, and Daniel Żelazko. We also thank the students, alumni, and staff of the Faculty of Transport at Warsaw University of Technology, as well as friends from scouting and schools.
We also thank all those whose names cannot be listed here. Your selfless help and immense commitment will remain with us forever.
Contact Us
We try to verify every signal we receive as thoroughly as possible. We kindly ask you to provide any information that could assist in the search and help us find our Dad, Sylwester Gładyś.
Thank you!
Beata Schulman and Małgorzata Gładyś-Kwatek
Dr inż. Sylwester Gładyś
Dr. Sylwester Gładyś was associated with the Warsaw University of Technology for nearly half a century - as a scientist, lecturer, mentor to generations of students, and a man deeply committed to the life and history of his university.
In 1978, he graduated from the Faculty of Technical Physics and Applied Mathematics at the Warsaw University of Technology. He then centered his professional career at the WT Faculty of Transport, working as an assistant professor in the Department of Air Transport Engineering, and later the Department of Air Transport Engineering and Teleinformatics. His main areas of scientific and educational focus were operational research in transport and aviation traffic process modeling.
From 1990 to 1996, he served as the Vice-Dean for Student Affairs at the Faculty of Transport. For many years, he remained a fixture in the academic community of the Warsaw University of Technology, sharing his expertise with students and fostering their scientific growth.
However, the Warsaw University of Technology was much more than just a workplace for him. it became one of his greatest lifelong passions. Over the years, Sylwester Gładyś collected memorabilia related to the university's history: vintage postcards and photographs, documents, journals, medals, badges, blueprints, and other artifacts documenting its heritage. His collection included postcards showcasing the University from the early 20th century, materials from the Tsarist period, World War I, and the interwar period, as well as documents concerning the university's post-WWII reconstruction.
He eagerly shared his knowledge and collections with others. He organized and co-created exhibitions and meetings of the Alumni Club's Historical Salon. His collection dedicated to the history of the Warsaw University of Technology encompassed hundreds of postcards, along with albums, photos, medals, badges, periodicals, and archives.
He was a member of the Senate Committee for the History and Tradition of the Warsaw University of Technology and served as Vice-President of the Association of Alumni and Friends of WUT. Through his activities, he sought to unite successive generations of students and graduates, helping to preserve the memory of the people and events that shaped the university's history.
In addition to his academic work, Sylwester Gładyś was a man exceptionally curious about the world. He was a traveler and an alpinist. He traveled, trekked through mountains, and climbed. The mountains, hiking, and contact with nature remained a significant part of his life for many years. Even later on, he sought to maintain his independence and activity. He regularly went for long walks, often with poles.
He was also a very family-oriented person and a wonderful father to two daughters, as well as a grandfather to six grandchildren whom he loved dearly and who held a special place in his life. Family, science, travel, and history intertwined throughout his life. He raised his daughters with respect for nature, various cultures, and traditions, and later, with immense love, he also participated in the lives of his grandchildren.
A special place in his life was occupied by his own family history. He pursued genealogy with passion, gathering information, documents, and family stories, ensuring that the memory of previous generations would not be lost. He organized family reunions that provided opportunities for successive generations to meet, maintain bonds, and pass down family histories and traditions.
To his loved ones, he remains above all a man curious about the world, stubborn, independent, and deeply attached to his family, his habits, his work, his walks, and the places he knew and loved.
On February 24, 2026, Sylwester Gładyś left his apartment in Warsaw's Bielany district for a walk and did not return. He was 71 years old at the time. Surveillance footage and subsequent findings allowed for the reconstruction of a significant portion of his route leading toward Młociny Park and the Vistula River. He has had no contact with his family since that day.
From the moment of his disappearance, his family, friends, services, search groups, and volunteers have been conducting extensive search operations. Forests and areas along the Vistula were checked. Searches were carried out by land, water, and air, utilizing tracking dogs, cadaver dogs, boats, sonars, and drones. Over time, these actions covered dozens of kilometers of the Vistula and its banks.
Behind the missing person notices, the photo of a man in a red jacket, and months of searching, there lies much more than just a story of a missing person.
Sylwester Gładyś represents nearly half a century of history at the Warsaw University of Technology. It is thousands of hours spent with students, years of scientific and educational work, efforts for the benefit of the university and its alumni, and hundreds of documents and memorabilia saved from oblivion. It is mountains, travels, collections, family stories, long walks, and an unceasing curiosity about the world.
It is, above all, a man who has his own story, a family, and people who are waiting for him.
And that is precisely why we do not stop searching for him.
