WI WI - LAKE GENEVA SUITCASE MURDERS, Laura Simonson & Jenny Gamez - #1

[Woe.be.gone]

Who placed the ad? Was it Zelich himself? An accomplice?

Link here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2670693/Man-arrested-bodies-suitcases.html

Didn't someone from the website place the ad? Someone who knew Laura?
Not sure but thought I read that somewhere. Maybe Laura's sister placed the ad trying to get LE's attention. At some point it sounds as if peeps knew Laura was with Zelich but did not realize when or that she'd been killed.
Maybe they couldn't get ahold of her and felt her situation had intensified so they placed the ad.

Someone else suggested that possibly Zelich himself placed the ad but police will have to figure that out. Maybe the person who placed the ad has told LE that they are responsible.

Yikes, I hope the ad wasn't the catalyst for what happened next.

 

[STANDREID]

I believe Jenny left her foster family in late 2011.
"Gamez's former foster mother said she last spoke spoke to her on Mother's Day 2012."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sin-suitcase-second-body-identified/11812099/

I wonder how old the father of Jenny's son was. This article says the child was born in 2008 when Jenny was about 15 (my calculation) so she may well have gotten pregnant when she was only 14.

It might also be useful to know how he was considered the better party for custody. If it's even a close call, the mother usually gets custody.

 

[carbuff]

I once volunteered to help clean up a forest preserve area right on a very busy road. We found a rusted queen sized metal bed frame.

We found a twin mattress that had been hollowed out from underneath, as if something had been stored in it. I think the crew leader called the police on that one.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

The TV report also says that the police searched Zelich's house earlier this year in their investigation of Simonson's disappearance.

They also mentioned that they haven't filed murder charges yet because there is currently no evidence of a murder.

Now that's a stretch. LE should say they're in the middle of an investigation. :banghead:

 

[inthedark14]

The TV report also says that the police searched Zelich's house earlier this year in their investigation of Simonson's disappearance.

They also mentioned that they haven't filed murder charges yet because there is currently no evidence of a murder.

:thud:

 

[OkieGranny]

Video at link:

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/Police-waiting-to-file-murder-charges-against-former-West-Allis-officer-265461131.html

"When the detective came to talk to us, we didn't want to believe it was Jenny," said Kirk Troute, Gamez's father.

Apparently Troute is Jenny's foster father, not bio father, because he shares the same last name as Jenny's foster sister in this interview:

http://www.wisn.com/news/foster-sister-of-woman-found-in-suitcase-shares-her-sadness/26755452#!67YNQ

It's still all very confusing.

 

[Judy]

http://fox6now.com/2014/07/01/jenny...s-gamezs-foster-father-foster-sister-say-she-

 

[Solitaryone]

He was the prime suspect in Laura's disappearance. Number one according to the detective handling it. It is jmo that pressure is what caused him to finally dump his victims. Sure, there may have been a message there too given where he put them. At some point he must have realized that he was going to be caught.

I don't have an issue with the lack of charges because he isn't going anywhere at the moment. It has to be excruciating for the families however. Zelich is someone that LE is going to want to make sure there is nothing anywhere that will cause him to wiggle free.

this is all jmo.

I hope you're right. But why say that unless they think they might not charge him? It doesn't inspire confidence in their ability to make sure this case goes to trial. It bothers me that they say they don't have enough evidence to charge SZ with two counts of murder and everything else they can charge SZ with. Like another poster said, why not just say they're in the middle of an investigation, and leave it at that? Of course people like me would still question why no charges, but wow! I just feel uneasy about how this case is unfolding.

ETA: They have the bodies and a "confession" such as it is, I'd think that right there would be enough for murder charges.

 

[Solitaryone]

Who placed the ad? Was it Zelich himself? An accomplice? A victim?

Link here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2670693/Man-arrested-bodies-suitcases.html

That has not been made clear. Who did place that ad? Did Lauren's family or SZ?

 

[OkieGranny]

http://fox6now.com/2014/07/01/jenny...s-gamezs-foster-father-foster-sister-say-she-

From your link:

“There was no particular reason that we could come up with for why the Town of Geneva was picked — other than it was just a road the individual decided to drive down,” Chief Hurley said.

As to the possibility of more victims in this case, “I think we leave that question wide open for now,” Chief Hurley said...

Meanwhile, officials in Kenosha County are trying to prove Zelich killed Gamez through computer evidence and hotel records before they bring the case to the District Attorney’s Office for possible murder charges.

 

[buffetoflies]

The road crew reaction puzzles me also. Are these possibly mentally handicapped people who do this type of work there?

Jail inmates do roadside trash pickup around here. Not sure if that includes mowing grass.

 

[carbuff]

Jail inmates do roadside trash pickup around here. Not sure if that includes mowing grass.

In most states that I've seen, the mowing and other maintenance is done by state or sometimes county maintenance crews. Of course other areas might do it differently. But they wouldn't be likely to do both jobs at the same time -- stopping to do all the cleanup would really slow down the mowing crew.

 

[necco]

We don't know why Jenny's child was living with the child's father. Let's not assume it was because she lost custody or made some wrong decisions. Perhaps she decided that he was better suited to raise their child than she was. Perhaps she gave him custody while she finished school. She may have made the best decision a mother could make by putting her child's best interest ahead of her own desire to raise him.

Poor Jenny has been mistreated enough, let's not rob her of the dignity of a caring mother without having the facts.

 

[Cubby]

The TV report also says that the police searched Zelich's house earlier this year in their investigation of Simonson's disappearance.

They also mentioned that they haven't filed murder charges yet because there is currently no evidence of a murder.

Not enough evidence to file charges?
Were the autopsies inconclusive?

 

[OhThatVictoria]

As with Gamez, he put Simonson's body in a suitcase, drove it to his home and hid her body before dumping it along the road.

Zelich had posted an ad seeking "no limit enslavement, imprisonment, captivity, animalization ... ideally in a farm/caged situation," the Journal Sentinel reported.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sin-suitcase-second-body-identified/11812099/

OK, per above article, he caused the death of Simonson in November 2013. (Isn't that the assumption because she wasn't seen leaving the hotel? what if she left / alive in the suitcase?)

Wouldn't it then make sense that after the Windy City classified was placed (by who?) and names him / outs him, he woud have to find a place to ove Simonson?

Then he places the classified seeking a farm / cage situation. We discussed whether or not he switched roles and in retrospect, he wasn't soliciting that for himself, he needed to move Simonson OUT of his apt.

That theory makes sense. And if true, he found an accomplice and we really are not sure when Simonson died.

 

[borndem]

WTF! If SZ wasn't a former cop he would have been charged already! What is going on?? This just pi$$es me off! Is SZ going to get away with double murder? Is SZ going to walk??

Can anybody say, "D--- P-------?

 

[carbuff]

There's a big difference between knowing something happened and being able to prove it. And depending how the confession was made, it might or might not be admissible, or believable.

More likely they do have evidence but they need to make sure they have all the details nailed down. All the videos, all the witnesses, all the locations and times and places, the full time line.

They don't have any reason to rush. He's locked up tight, and he's going to stay that way for several years on the corpse disposal charges. He's not going anywhere so they can make sure they've got an airtight case.

 

[Rallygrrl]

(a) I would not blame the road crew. This was on a rural highway that probably only gets cut (thrashed) once a year. You gotta move, move, move because you have to get "x amount" done by the end of the day. Our June was extremely rainy/stormy. I work outside house painting and seriously, I think out of the past 30 days, 20 of them I was unable to work outside due to rain...so if there was a good day, you tried to get as much done as possible. You do not have time to stop and be curious. Usually, from what I understand, you go out with a crew of several people. One of them drives the thrasher and a few others on foot get the debris out of the way in front of the thrasher. There is no reason to stop and play "peek-a-boo" into every single thing you find because 99.9% of it is just innocuous junk, plus, you are trying to stay ahead of the person driving the thrasher; (b) I did read something that stated a "prostitute" came forward and had a run-in with SZ following meeting at a tavern. The label "prostitute" is unfair...SZ could have said that she was...but that does not mean anything. We all know how that worked out with Dahmer when Konerak Sinthasomphone was found in the street bleeding and naked and Dahmer was able to convince the police that KS was his gay lover and KS was just intoxicated, DESPITE other witnesses calling the police to report that KS was clearly in distress and trying to get AWAY from Dahmer.

 

[necco]

I am sorry for her but I saw somewhere that she was upset about losing custody, that's why I asked. Perhaps this assertion is not true but I haven't seen it refuted.

That wasn't directed at anyone in particular. More than one person was discussing it. And it wasn't intended to chastise anyone, I just feel for this poor young woman, tossed away like trash, without even the accoutrements of torture removed from her body. Just wanted to allow her some dignity.

Most parents, even if they decided it was the best thing for their child, would be upset about losing custody.

Maybe I'm just overempathizing with Jenny.

 

[OhThatVictoria]

Found on Twitter . . . WTMJ-4 found the purported prostitute and will be broadcasting an interview w/her tonight . . . right about now (CST) during 10PM newscast:

13 years ago, she ran from the home of Steven Zelich in nothing but her underwear. Live@10, she talks only with the @tmj4 I-TEAM.