List of homicides in Wisconsin

This is a list of homicides in Wisconsin. This list includes notable homicides committed in the U.S. state of Wisconsin that have a Wikipedia article on the killing, the killer, or the victim. It is divided into three subject areas as follows:

  1. Multiple homicides – homicides having multiple victims.
  2. Serial killers – persons who murder three or more persons with the incidents taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them
  3. Single homicides – notable homicides involving a single fatality

Among the works dealing with homicides in Wisconsin are Wisconsin Murders by August Derleth and Got Murder? The Shocking Story of Wisconsin's Notorious Killers by Martin Hintz.[1][2]

Multiple homicides

[edit]

Listed in chronological order

Incident Location Date Deaths Description Sources
Taliesin murders Spring Green August 14, 1914 7 Murder of Frank Lloyd Wright's mistress, Mamah Borthwick, and six others by a chef working at the site [3]
Christopher Scarver Portage November 28, 1994 3 Killed Jeffrey Dahmer while in prison, also killed another prisoner at the same time; previously killed a Wisconsin Conservation Corps supervisor in 1990 [4]
Chai Vang Meteor November 21, 2004 6 Deer hunting dispute turned into mass shooting [5]
Terry Ratzmann Brookfield March 12, 2005 8 Mass shooting at Living Church of God [6]
Crandon shooting Crandon October 7, 2007 7 Off-duty sheriff's deputy fatally shot six persons, including his ex-girlfriend, at a post-homecoming party and then committed suicide [7]
Yolanda Brown Milwaukee October 16, 2007 2 R&B singer and record producer fatally shot at recording studio [8]
Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting Oak Creek August 5, 2012 8 Mass shooting at Sikh temple [9]
Azana Spa shooting Brookfield October 21, 2012 4 Estranged husband of worker entered spa in suburban Milwaukee, four killed including the wife and shooter [10]
Aaron Schaffhausen River Falls July 10, 2012 3 Father slit throats of his three daughters (ages 5, 8, and 11) the year after divorce from their mother [11]
Steven Zelich West Allis 2012–2013 2 Former police officer known as the "Wisconsin Suitcase Murderer" [12]
Ashlee Martinson Piehl March 7, 2015 2 Convicted of murdering her mother and stepfather on the day after her 17th birthday
Kidnapping of Jayme Closs Barron October 15, 2018 2 21-year-old broke into house, fatally shot parents, and kidnapped 13-year-old girl for 88 days [13]
Milwaukee brewery shooting Milwaukee February 26, 2020 6 A 51-year-old worker at Molson Coors brewery fatally shot five coworkers and then committed suicide [14]
Kenosha unrest shooting Kenosha August 25, 2020 2 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and wounded another, using an AR-15 rifle; Rittenhouse claimed self-defense and was found not guilty [15]
Waukesha Christmas parade attack Waukesha November 21, 2021 6 Six killed and 62 injured when the perpetrator deliberately hit participants and observers with his SUV at Christmas parade
Nelsonville triple murder Nelsonville April 2009 3 Shane Kettner, 36, killed his girlfriend and her two children in their Nelsonville home. He was found by police with a surviving six-month-old child who, along with parts of the home, had been doused with gasoline.

Serial killers

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Listed in chronological order by date of earliest homicide

gypIncident Location Date Deaths Description Sources
Ed Gein Plainfield 1947–1957 2–9 Known as the "Butcher of Plainfield" [16]
George Lamar Jones Wisconsin, Mississippi 1972–1997 3+ Serial killer who lived for a time in Milwaukee
Joseph Paul Franklin Multiple 1977–1980 8–20+ White supremacist killer executed 2013 [16]
Walter E. Ellis Milwaukee 1986–2007 8–10+ Known as "The Milwaukee North Side Strangler" [16]
Edward Edwards Wisconsin, Ohio 1977–1996 5–15+ Six confirmed victims [16]
Jeffrey Dahmer Ohio, Wisconsin 1978–1991 16 Known as the "Milwaukee Cannibal" [16]
David Van Dyke Milwaukee 1979–1980 6 Burglar who murdered people after tricking them into letting him into their homes [17]
Lorenzo Fayne Wisconsin, Illinois 1989–1993 6 Serial killer and rapist who murdered one woman and five children in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois

Single homicides

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Incident Location Date Description Sources
John McCaffary Kenosha July 23, 1850 Convicted of drowning his wife in a cistern, his execution was botched, leading to the abolition of capital punishment in Wisconsin
Little Lord Fauntleroy Waukesha 1921 Unsolved murder of young boy found floating in a pond
Arthur "Buddy" Schumacher Wauwatosa 1925 Unsolved murder of 8-year-old boy; later the subject of the 2012 book Murder in Wauwatosa: The Mysterious Death of Buddy Schumacher
Jack Zuta Delafield August 1, 1930 Organized crime figure fatally shot at a roadhouse
Sterling Hall bombing Madison August 24, 1970 Bombing at University of Wisconsin as protest of connections with military research during Vietnam War, a physics researcher was killed and three others injured
Murder of Lisa Ann French Fond du Lac October 31, 1973 9-year old girl murdered and sexually assaulted by neighbor while trick-or-treating alone
Murder of Christine Schultz Milwaukee May 28, 1981 Former Milwaukee police officer convicted for the murder of her husband's ex-wife; she escaped in 1990 in an episode that inspired the slogan "Run, Bambi, Run"
Murder of Amber Creek Burlington 1997-02 Teenager who ran away from a youth shelter; suspect convicted of her murder 34 years later
Murder of Traci Hammerberg Grafton December 15, 1984 18-year-old murdered while walking home from a party; murderer identified 35 years later
Murder of Susan Poupart Lac du Flameau May 20, 1990 Unsolved murder of 29-year-old Native American woman
Jesse Anderson Milwaukee April 21, 1992 Convicted of murdering his wife Barbara Anderson; was then murdered along with Jeffrey Dahmer in prison by Christopher Scarver
Murder of Alfred Kunz Dane March 4, 1998 Unsolved murder of a Catholic priest found in church with his throat slit
Death of Julie Jensen Pleasant Prairie December 3, 1998 Husband convicted of murdering his wife; conviction later overturned; notable for admission into evidence of a letter written by deceased expressing suspicion of husband's intentions
Murder of Glenn Kopitske Winnebago County July 21, 2003 Thrill killing of a bipolar 37-year-old man
Murder of Teresa Halbach
(Steven Avery,
Brendan Dassey)		 Manitowoc County October 31, 2005 Photographer murdered by man who hired her to photograph a minivan, later the subject of the Netflix series Making a Murderer
2006 Weston High School shooting Cazenovia September 29, 2006 Student fatally shot high school principal
Murder of Cha Vang Green Bay 2007 30-year-old Hmong man shot and stabbed by James Nichols who had expressed racial animus to Hmong people
Murder of Erika Hill Fitchburg 2007-02 15-year-old girl was victim of long term abuse and starvation, then beaten, stabbed and asphyxiated by mother
Murder of Amy Yeary Campbellsport 2008-08 18-year-old woman murdered in 2008, body was unidentified for 13 years, aka "Fond du Lac County Jane Doe"
Murder of Hussain Saeed Alnahdi Menomonie October 31, 2016 24-year-old student from Saudi Arabia beaten to death outside a pizzeria in downtown Menomonie
Killing of Ee Lee Milwaukee September 19, 2020 Woman raped and murdered by two teenage boys on video in front of nine other youths
Murder of Shad Thyrion Green Bay February 21, 2022 24-year-old American man killed during sexual intercourse and then dismembered.
Killing of Lily Peters Chippewa Falls April 22, 2022 10-year-old girl raped and murdered, her 14-year-old cousin was arrested and is being tried as an adult
John Pier Roemer New Lisbon June 3, 2022 Juneau County judge fatally shot by a man convicted in his court six years earlier
Death of Sade Robinson Milwaukee April 1, 2024 19-year-old woman killed and dismembered.

References

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  1. ^ August Derleth (1968). Wisconsin Murders. Mycroft & Moran.
  2. ^ Martin Hintz (2007). Got Murder? The Shocking Story of Wisconsin's Notorious Killers. Trails Books. ISBN 978-1-931599-96-2.
  3. ^ William R. Drennan (2008). Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-22214-7.
  4. ^ Jamie Schram (April 28, 2015). "Why I killed Jeffrey Dahmer". New York Post. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  5. ^ "Vang trial disturbing on many level". Winona Post. August 16, 2021. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  6. ^ "Church, Police Probe 7 Murders". CBS News. March 14, 2005. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  7. ^ "Friend: Wis. deputy's shooting rampage started after he was called a 'worthless pig'". The Goshen News. Associated Press. October 9, 2007. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  8. ^ "Cold case heats up Police may have suspect murders of R&B singer, producer; "If this is true, it'll be a big relief"". Fox 6 Now Milwaukee. July 12, 2016. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  9. ^ Rob Mentzer (July 28, 2022). "Wisconsin's Sikh community a decade after fatal temple shooting". NPR. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  10. ^ Madeline Anderson (October 21, 2017). "Azana Salon & Spa marks 5 years since gunmen killed 3, injured 4 others". Fox 6 Milwaukee. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  11. ^ "Mom remembers 3 daughters, a decade after their brutal murders by father". Star Tribune. July 8, 2022. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  12. ^ "Steven Zelich arrested in connection with Wisconsin suitcase bodies case". 7 Eyewitness News. Archived from the original on June 27, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  13. ^ Natalie Brophy, Andy Thompson (January 7, 2021). "Two years after teenager Jayme Clooss escaped from captivity, her case remains a source of hope for missing children". Post Crescent. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  14. ^ "A gun collector's paranoia, a wrong suspect and the role of racism. What the Molson Coors mass shooting records reveal". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. November 25, 2000. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  15. ^ Becky Sullivan (November 19, 2021). "Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted of all charges in the trial over killing 2 in Kenosha". NPR. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Six serial killers who left deep scars on Wisconsin". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  17. ^ "Van Dyke given longest term in state history". Wausau Daily Herald. March 6, 1981. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
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