Kansas University's TV station is getting national attention, thanks to a conservative traveling preacher with ties to a Houston woman who allegedly drowned her five children.
ABC "World News Tonight" on Monday aired a KUJH file video of the preacher, Michael Woroniecki, and NBC's "Dateline" and "Today" shows also have requested the video.
"This video is apparently the only video anybody can find of this guy," said Dick Nelson, newsroom coordinator for KUJH.
Woroniecki apparently was friends with Andrea Yates, who has been indicted on capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her children. Two other sons also were found dead in the Yateses' home. Yates' lawyers are pursuing an insanity defense.
According to a new book about Yates, "Breaking Point" by Suzy Spencer, Woroniecki and his wife, Rachel, helped persuade Yates that her sadness and loneliness meant she had been overtaken by evil.
The Woronieckis and their six children have traveled in a bus to college campuses, preaching to students. When they came on Nov. 15, 1999, to KU's Wescoe Beach, KUJH did a story about the family and their confrontations with students.
On the video, Michael Woroniecki said he hoped to convince students to "seek Jesus Christ." He told students the only education they needed was from Jesus, not from professors.
"Look at them," he said of KU students. "They're monsters, zombies."
Woroniecki also has said women should have a subservient position in the home.
A "Dateline" NBC staff member found the KUJH video online about two weeks ago and called Nelson to request it. ABC requested it two days later, and the "Today" show called Thursday.
Nelson said he didn't know of another time national media had asked for KUJH video.
The "Dateline" representative told Nelson that NBC hadn't been able to locate Woroniecki.
Although the video is getting national attention now, Nelson said the story didn't seem too important at the time.
"I think we kind of stumbled on this story," Nelson said. "Our crew just happened to be going by. I don't remember it, to tell you the truth."
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