WI - Ex-deputy arrested in deaths of his wife, sister-in-law *Mental defect*

[OkieGranny]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/...er-sheriffs-deputy-b99336905z1-272434351.html

Two women were killed by a former sheriff's deputy Friday afternoon in a Fitchburg house, police say. One of the victims was the deputy's wife.

Ashlee C. Steele, 39, of Fitchburg, and her sister, Kacee M. Tollefsbol, 38, of Lake Elmo, Minn., were identified late Saturday by the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office. Andrew P. Steele, 39, a former deputy for the Dane County Sheriff's Office, was arrested in their deaths.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wiscon...s-love-of-his-life-b99337140z1-272484001.html

Fitchburg Police were called to the couple's home in the 3000 block of Yarmouth Greenway Drive about 12:15 p.m. Friday... Police also found Steele inside the home. He was hospitalized for his injuries. Police wouldn't say whether the injuries were self-inflicted.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_dd18b56a-76b8-53e6-8ae4-50476d0afa9f.html

Andy Steele, 39, was diagnosed in June with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and retired from the sheriff’s office.

Ashlee Steele began raising money in a campaign called Tough as Steele/Taking Down ALS for her husband’s upcoming care needs through a website called Give Forward. As of Friday, nearly a third of their goal of $75,000 had been raised through 257 individual donations.

Tollesbol was involved in the Steeles’ fundraising effort.

Ashlee's FB: https://www.facebook.com/ashlee.steele

Kacee's FB: https://www.facebook.com/kacee.chaves

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/08/so_hard_to_understand_family_f.html

The last time Andy Steele was in Saginaw County, he dressed up as singer Axl Rose and performed with his mock Guns N' Roses band before a crowd of 300 cheering people.

It was a bittersweet moment. The purpose of the concert was to celebrate Steele and to raise money to pay for the bills accompanying his recent diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Today, friends of Steele are in shock after hearing the news that the former sheriff's deputy was arrested in Wisconsin in the homicide of his wife, Ashlee C. Steele, 39, and her sister, Kacey M. Tollefsbol, 38.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_bcafef9b-6b56-5d07-a8e2-e3927d779201.html

Ashlee and Andy Steele have two children, and Tollefsbol, who lived in Lake Elmo, Minn., just southwest of Stillwater, was a married mother of four...

Mahoney said the women’s grandmother died the same day they were killed. “So their father was struggling with the loss of his mother and two daughters,” he said...

The murders happened in a different time period than when Steele was injured, Stetzer said. “What we are trying to determine is how much of a time frame may have been in between,” he said. “At this point the investigation is still continuing to get the timing of all of the different events.”

 

[RLynne]

http://www.channel3000.com/news/cou...esponse-to-fitchburg-double-homicide/27722938

The court document details the 911 call and subsequent police response to Andy Steele’s home.

Kacee Tollefsbol called 911 to report that her brother-in-law, Steele, had shot her in the back just before 1 p.m. Friday, the document said. Police entered the home on Yarmouth Greenway Drive and found Tollefsbol with a gunshot wound.

According to the document, police then found Andy Steele's wife, Ashlee Steele, dead in the home.

Andy Steele was found with a 9mm handgun in the home, the document said. Tollefsbol told police she heard a second shot fired and believed Andy Steele had shot himself, but police said only two rounds were fired inside the home, and Steele did not suffer a gunshot wound.

A doctor at the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said Ashlee Steele was breathing at the time she was fatally shot in the head.

I've been following this story closely. This is terrible. Rumors are flying...if you check out the facebook page of the news organization I posted this story from, there are some interesting comments (although it may not be worth slogging through the inane/off-topic/ignorant comments). It's all so sad and horrific, but one of the worst things is, according to Tollefsbol's facebook page, she was just recently married. And, there are now six children without a mother. So sad.

 

[AuntB]

Deputy Andy Steele is out of the hospital and now in jail.

Steele makes his first court appearance Friday via closed circuit TV.

http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Shooting-in-Fitchburg-272332271.html

According to an official at the Fitchburg Police Department, Steele is charged with two counts of "first-degree intentional homicide."

Andy Steele will have an initial appearance in Dane County Circuit Court Friday, Aug. 29, at 12:30 p.m., intake coordinator Ryan Hoffman said.

Is that bandage on his neck a clue to his non-life-threatening suicide attempt injury?


http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/08/former_cop_andy_steel_released.html

 

[AuntB]

A memorial service for the sisters is Friday at 2 p.m. at the Church of St. Michael in Stillwater.

Officers who arrived on the scene were able to speak with Tollefsbol before she died, and she again identified Steele as the shooter.

Officers found Andy Steele in a laundry room with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun nearby, according to the court documents.

http://bringmethenews.com/2014/08/25/funeral-services-set-for-sisters-killed-near-madison/

 

[AuntB]

Steele is being held in the Rock County Jail in Janesville. The reason is to avoid a conflict-of-interest with the Dane County jail staffers who used to be his co-workers.

http://www.piercecountyherald.com/content/wisconsin-news-round-three-persons-killed-across-state-traffic-accidents

Here he is in the video with the reporter doing the ice bucket challenge. The article below the video also quotes him.

http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/icebucketchallenge-has-local-cause-271163721.html



I apologize for the multiple postings. As you can see, I'm new and don't know what I'm doing... just searching for news and posting what I find as I find it.

 

[OkieGranny]

You're doing great, Aunty!

This whole thing is just totally incomprehensible to me. The gun was pointed in the wrong direction, is about all I can safely say at this point.

 

[AuntB]

Thanks Granny!

This is a very puzzling, disturbing, senseless crime. (But, I feel that way about all the crimes I read about here at websleuths.)

 

[AuntB]

A Dane County Sheriff's SWAT team discovered Ashlee Steele, 39, dead in the master bedroom. She had been shot in the head and had a zip-tie wrapped around her throat, cutting off circulation, the complaint said.

The dryer was running but was vented back into the room. A portable grill was also in the room and was very hot and loaded with charcoal. An officer secured the handgun but Andrew Steele fought with the team before they subdued him, the complaint said.

This article is worth a read

http://www.startribune.com/local/273178951.html

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Thanks for posting this OkieGranny. I've been reading about this for a couple days. Such a sad sad case. So many lives damaged.

 

[October]

This case is so sad and baffling to me. I just can't wrap my head around it. Why kill your wife, the mother of your children? He doesn't have long and knew this would basically leave them orphans. And if there was something in their relationship that no one else saw, why kill the sister too? And then to have the sisters' grandmother die the same day. So tragic for this family.

 

[colette]

Here is video of Steele actually getting ice water poured on him. Really I'm surprised because I don't think that is something an ALS patient should do. I wonder if he really had ALS. Maybe he killed his wife and her sister after they found out that he really didn't have the disease. His wife had raised $70,000 for his support. He could have just retired and told people he had the disease, it's not the first time people faked terminal illness.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/27515704

 

[AuntB]

And if there was something in their relationship that no one else saw, why kill the sister too?

<snipped by me>

I thought maybe Kacee the sister-in-law showed up after he killed his wife Ashlee, but wasn't an intended target--wrong place/wrong time for poor Kacee. This might explain why he didn't shoot her in the head nor use zip ties nor even make sure she was dead. Just a theory, JMO.

Kacee lived long enough to call police who arrived before he could complete his complicated suicide... death by dryer vent and hot coals = Carbon Monoxide poisoning? Just guessing, JMHO.
http://www.csia.org/homeowner-resources/clothes_dryer_vent_safety_tips.aspx
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/communications/CO/grill.html

 

[libby5264]

This case is so bizarre


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[October]

Here is video of Steele actually getting ice water poured on him. Really I'm surprised because I don't think that is something an ALS patient should do. I wonder if he really had ALS. Maybe he killed his wife and her sister after they found out that he really didn't have the disease. His wife had raised $70,000 for his support. He could have just retired and told people he had the disease, it's not the first time people faked terminal illness.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/27515704

I wondered this as well, but if it was a scam he had to know he couldn't keep it from his wife forever. Unless she was in on it and wanted to come clean. I don't know. In most cases I can at least see where the perp was coming from, but not this one.

 

[AuntB]

More details. The criminal complaint is in the photos at the top of the article linked below.

Page 5 says they've got him (cc receipt and store video) buying charcoal and lighter fluid on Aug 22, the same morning as the murders.

The same page 5 also describes Ashlee's phone activity/when she stopped answering.

Sad, sad, sad, sad case.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/08/wife_of_ex-cop_andy_steele_fou.html

 

[Tulessa]

This article is worth a read

http://www.startribune.com/local/273178951.html

I have to agree with my sister Granny! You're doing great Aunty, and welcome to WS! This case leaves me speechless.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/4/hearing-set-for-deputy-accused-in-double-homicide/

A judge on Thursday ordered a former Wisconsin sheriff&#8217;s deputy to stand trial in the shooting deaths of his wife and sister-in-law...

The only witness who testified was Matthew Wiza, a Fitchburg detective who was the first officer to reach the Steele home...

The motive for the slayings remains a mystery. Court documents are silent on the subject and Nicholson told reporters after the hearing that no motive has emerged.

 

[AuntB]

The murders happened in a different time period than when Steele was injured, Stetzer said.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/fitchburg-double-homicide-overwhelming-tragedy-for-so-many-sheriff-says/article_bcafef9b-6b56-5d07-a8e2-e3927d779201.html


I've been puzzling over the timeline ever since I read the above comment from Fitchburg Police Lt. Todd Stetzer about the murders happening in a "different time period" from the time of the defendant's injury. Based on the criminal complaint linked below, I've got the following timeline for Aug. 22, 2014:

8:35 a.m. - Ashlee sends an email to her sister-in-law

9:22 a.m. - Defendant purchases charcoal and lighter fluid at PDQ store

9:45 a.m. - Ashlee's SIL receives a voice mail message from Ashlee at approximately 9:45 a.m.

10:14 a.m. - Ashlee's SIL returns Ashlee's call, but Ashlee doesn't answer

10:25 a.m. - Ashlee's SIL again tries to reach Ashlee by phone, but Ashlee still doesn't answer

12:55 p.m. - officers are dispatched to the residence

2:21 p.m. - TRT enters the home and discovers the defendant in the laundry room (presumably shortly after 2:21 p.m.)



So... Ashlee was alive and leaving a voice mail message around 9:45 am... and possibly? was dead by 10:14 when she missed the first phone call from her SIL. Nearly 2 1/2 hours later, the sister, Kaycee calls for help and officers are dispatched at 12:55 p.m.

The scenario I'd imagined involved Kaycee arriving sometime after Ashlee was killed and being able to call 911 soon after being shot herself. But... If that's correct, then Kaycee was apparently mistaken about hearing another gun shot, since only two rounds were fired?

Tollefsbol told police she heard a second shot fired and believed Andy Steele had shot himself, but police said only two rounds were fired inside the home, and Steele did not suffer a gunshot wound.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/court-doc-details-police-response-to-fitchburg-double-homicide/27722938


So, maybe Kaycee was shot first? Then Ashlee was shot? Then several hours go by before the 911 call. Perhaps Kaycee struggled for hours to reach her phone?

I realize this is not a whodunit, but does anybody want to speculate with me?



http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/08/wife_of_ex-cop_andy_steele_fou.html

 

[colette]

I wonder about the timeline too because Ashlee was found with a "sleep mask" over her head. Was this an apnea mask or was it a blindfold keep out the light mask? Either she went back to bed or had been still sleeping when shot. Or possibly had a headache and put the keep out the light type mask on.

"The report states Ashlee Steele, 39, had a sleep mask over her head"
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/08/wife_of_ex-cop_andy_steele_fou.html