Lukasz Klosowski and Chelsea Ireland remembered as ‘innocent and loving angels’
The teenage sweethearts were “innocent and loving angels” who deserve to be remembered for more than their horrific murder, their families say a year on.
Police & Courts
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Lukasz Klosowski spoiled his first true love Chelsea Ireland with sunflowers – her favourites, and she enjoyed hand-crafting him birthday cards and cake.
The 19-year-old students together dreamt of careers in music journalism and environmental mechanical engineering and one day owning a Tesla car together.
The “pretty special couple” are now “frozen in time”, forever together, say their families – linked by the most tragic of circumstances.
A year ago today, their children were gunned down by Lukasz’ father Pawel Klosowski while visiting him at his Mt McIntyre property in South Australia’s southeast.
Described in court as “two innocent and loving angels”, Lukasz and Chelsea’s families do not want their senseless murders to be all they are remembered for.
“She was loyal, kind and sweet and he just wanted everyone to laugh,” said Lukasz’s mother Magda Pearce, 45.
“They were very much in love and were respectful and protective of each other,” she said.
“While they had very different personalities, likes and dislikes – they really were like Ying and Yang – but together, they fit and they made perfect sense,” said Mrs Pearce, who separated from Klosowski in 2010.
It’s the first time she has spoken so publicly on the loss of her son, and Chelsea, who had become an adopted daughter.
Chelsea’s mother Debra Ireland said the couple had begun to map out their lives together and it looked wonderful – travel and study abroad and dreams of changing the world side-by-side.
“She had big dreams and he was larger than life and a lovely person to have around the house.
“We heard them laughing all the time. They really brought life into our home.”
This afternoon the two families will come together at the Ireland’s western suburbs home. Here, Covid restrictions permitting, they will unite in their grief and jointly remember the lives of the teenagers and their many achievements in such a short life.
I still can’t believe he is not here
Clever, sensitive, kind-hearted and loyal – that’s how Magda Pearce wants her son Lukasz to be remembered.
“He didn’t take himself seriously and he loved to see people happy,” she said.
“He had this presence about him that made everyone comfortable and at ease. His friends loved his company.”
She starts to cry and apologises for her distressed state.
“Still to this day I can’t believe he is not here,” she said.
She gently touches the necklace she’s wearing. It is gold, lettered in Lukasz’s name, and embedded with his birthstone – amethyst, and a small amount of his ashes.
Last night, the Pearces organised a one-year memorial service at a Catholic Church for Lukasz and Chelsea.
“I think it is really important that we remember them together – that we keep saying their names together,” said Mrs Pearce, 45.
More tears follow. “There are so many bitter sweet memories that we now have of them both,” she said.
So many dreams lost, she adds. Lukasz was a second-year Bachelor of Journalism student at UniSA when he was killed by his father.
In April, Lukasz was awarded an Associate Degree in Arts posthumously.
Lukasz’s stepdad, Ashley Pearce, said his stepson was a responsible young adult who was always happy and found great joy in music.
“It was all about the music,” said Mr Pearce.
The Pearces turn back the clock constantly to August 22, 2020, to see how they could have averted Lukasz and Chelsea’s impending danger.
Mrs Pearce said Lukasz would not have taken Chelsea to visit his father if he felt it was unsafe.
She later discovered that Lukasz was not overly keen on travelling so far to visit his father but that he felt it was a son’s duty to go see his dad.
“That’s why Chelsea went too – to support him. They loved each other so much and even though they had different things on that weekend that they had to do, they still went together.
“If I had any idea he didn’t want to go, I would have said – ‘just don’t go’.
Mrs Pearce does not wish to discuss her ex-husband publicly, other than saying: “I’ve been angry, devastated and numb.”
Every day, for the past 365 days she said she’s struggled to make sense of Lukasz and Chelsea’s deaths.
It’s the impact on Lukasz’s half-brother, Ricky, though that worries her most. Ricky is five.
“When Ricky was born Lukasz was 15-years-old and from day one he was so responsible and eager to help. He would do anything for Ricky. He would have made an excellent father. Ricky adored him.”
She goes on – “Just recently Ricky made a painting of what heaven looks like and he said ‘this is Lukasz and this is Chelsea’. He still talks about them in the present tense and he is looking for answers to what happened to them.”
Mrs Pearce and Mr Pearce have until now felt explaining the brutality of their murders was not age appropriate for Ricky.
“He cries for his brother,” she said. “It breaks my heart because as a mum I can’t fix it for him.
“It doesn’t matter what we do or what we say, we can’t fix it.
“Nothing can.”
I heard him say ‘I love you’
It was an innocent interaction between her daughter and the 19-year-old’s boyfriend that spoke to Debra Ireland about how deeply the young couple felt for each other.
“They were out the front … I don’t know if they knew that I could hear them, but I heard him say to her ‘I love you’, and I think, that’s a big call for a 19-year-old,” Ms Ireland said.
“That was just a beautiful thing to hear, really.”
Ms Ireland with Chelsea’s father Greg, with their daughter, Maddie, have struggled through the last 12 months without their daughter and her boyfriend Lukasz.
“Lukasz was here (at their home) a lot, and we’ve basically lost two kids,” Ms Ireland said.
“We had to go through two funerals, and two memorials, we’ve done double of everything. The loss as hard.”
Chelsea’s father said each day he found new ways to cope, but sometimes the grief overflowed.
“To say we’re getting through this is probably a bit of a stretch, because we do struggle every single day,” Mr Ireland said.
“One minute it feels like just yesterday, and the next it feels like 10 years ago. The concept of time doesn’t really make sense at the moment,” he said.
For Ms Ireland, day-to-day activities are interrupted by the painful reminder of her daughter’s absence.
“It keeps hitting. You’ll be doing your normal thing and then you’ll think ‘Oh my god, that’s real’. And still, nearly a year on, I can’t quite get my head around it.”
Usually a hub for activity, the family’s Semaphore home was now quiet.
“We used to have dinners around here, and Lukasz would be here as well, and he would always come bounding in, really loud,” Chelsea’s sister, Maddie, said.
“(Now) It just feels so cold and there’s no warmth … I actually can’t remember the last time we’ve sat around this table for a meal, it just doesn’t feel the same,” she said.
Photos of Maddie and Chelsea are scattered around the family home, and Chelsea’s room remains untouched.
“Hers is the first bedroom, and the door is closed. We’ve left it … even the desk calendar is still on August,” Ms Ireland said.
The family were dealt another blow in February, when Chelsea’s dog, Buddy, died.
Ms Ireland said Buddy loved both Chelsea and Lukasz, and was noticeably down in the months after their death.
Chelsea will forever be remembered by her family as a selfless, old soul who was an environmental warrior, with a heart of gold.
She was known for giving back in the community, and spent as much spare time as possible volunteering for local children’s charity Puddle Jumpers.
Mr Ireland said Chelsea’s passion for the environment has sparked change among those close to the family.
“Just about everyone has come back with a story, whether they’re now recycling something they weren’t previously … or a using reusable a fruit and veg bag, instead of getting plastics,” he said.
Getting through each day is easier with the ongoing support from family and friends, and spending time with Lukasz’s family.
“The hard days are easier when we’re together. We cling together through all of this, because nobody really knows (what it’s like),” Ms Ireland said.
Maddie said she will always remember Chelsea and Lukasz by talking about them, no matter how hard it is.
“I think that’s how you do keep people alive who have passed on, you keep talking about them, because then their spirit can’t fade away,” she said.
“Because no matter how much we dream, wish, try, nothing is going to bring them back.”
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