The love triangle is as old as the hills. Most of the time, it doesn’t fare well. One person is always unhappy. In this crime, it was the ex-boyfriend, a forty-something father.
He didn’t handle it well when his ex-girlfriend started dating someone else. She’d moved on. He didn’t. The ex-girlfriend became worried when she hadn’t heard from her new boyfriend for a couple of days. She went to his place and found the patio door open. Once inside, she saw a lot of blood all over and signs of an apparent struggle. She called the authorities.
Officers wanted to know who might have hurt him. The woman told them her ex-boyfriend may have been involved. As the investigators focused on the ex-boyfriend, they found evidence that made him the only suspect. Without a body, the investigators needed plenty of circumstantial evidence.
They found someone had scrubbed clean with bleach the interior of the ex-boyfriend’s van—but not clean enough—they found the victim’s DNA inside. Someone had also removed sections of the van’s carpeted flooring.
The accused’s computer had a file saved on it in the name of the new boyfriend. In the file, he’d saved the man’s business information, electronic maps of the man’s home and address.
Investigators found security video footage from a local store of the accused purchasing garage bags, latex gloves, and two containers of bleach wipes.
The accused chose a jury trial. At his trial, prosecutors questioned the ex-boyfriend’s 15-year-old daughter about her father’s behavior and actions. When his daughter began her testimony, the accused pinched his lips with thumb and forefinger and turned his fingers, interpreted as a sign telling her to stop talking. The judge admonished him, and then her testimony continued. She testified her father took her with him to spy on his ex-girlfriend (her mother) and her new boyfriend.
While spying on the couple, the ex-boyfriend went through the new boyfriend’s truck and took photos of the license and registration—he then knew where the man lived. Before they left, he pressed her doorbell, then ran away like a teenage prank.
After the prosecution presented all the evidence and both sides rested, the jury reached a verdict after ten hours of deliberation—guilty of first-degree intentional murder of the presumed death of the new boyfriend, guilty of stalking, and guilty of hiding the dead man’s corpse.
Before the judge sentenced the convicted murderer, he said to the man,
“What you did was frightening. Horrible. And you can wag your head all you want. The jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that you did it.”
Then the judge delivered his sentence—life in prison.
Source: Milwaukee journal sentinel, Independent, Court TV, Law & Crime
All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
Comentarios