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

[Solitaryone]

I'm looking for other unidentified women who fit the profile, as well as missing women.

Do you think he had any preference for race?

Are there locations I should be looking in besides the Wisconsin-Minnesota area and Florida?

How long before 2001 do you think he might have started?

JMO, definitely check out Illinois, Chicago area. If he's 51 or 52, you should check back into the 70's, SZ would have been a teenager then. I have a feeling that this is the tip of a huge iceberg.

 

[copsdaughter]

JMO, definitely check out Illinois, Chicago area. If he's 51 or 52, you should check back into the 70's, SZ would have been a teenager then. I have a feeling that this is the tip of a huge iceberg.

Definitely Illinois. Kenosha is on the WI-IL border.

 

[copsdaughter]

bbm. Me too!!

I'm sure LE wishes this whole case would just disappear. Makes them look really bad - he wasn't even fired for that incident with the hand-cuffed prostitute - they let him resign!!:banghead:

Boys club, all the way :facepalm:

oh yes, there is a "boys club" but murder usually gets a current officer special treatment once in custody, not ignoring the murder.

The police in Minnesota (Farmington and/or Rochester) screwed up the most IMHO, as it sounds like Laura's family gave them a lot of info about SZ. It would've been MN police job to prove probable cause to a judge in MN, then it would've been forwarded to WAPD for them to carry out.

 

[carbuff]

I have no idea whether she was into submission, but Hazel Klug, 1986 from Richmond VA, fits the physical stats. http://doenetwork.org/cases/38dfva.html

 

[Migmuu]

To Laura's family:

My utmost condolences to you and everyone else who loved Laura. I'm so, so sorry this happened and that the police didn't take you seriously. I'm sorry it had to take this for that sick person to be taken down.

Please don't blame yourselves or entertain the ''what ifs''. This was not your fault and there is nothing to feel guilty for. You looked for her when nobody else did, and you did the best you could.

Laura was irreplaceable and it's a loss that you may never be able to ''get over''. The death of a loved one - particularly when it's due to violence - is something that can't be ''gotten over''. It's going to be a long and hard process, especially for her kids.

But I hope it will bring you some comfort to know that you helped catch this monster, and that you've undoubtedly saved the lives of other women who would've otherwise met - and become the victims of - Steven Zelich. He won't be doing this to anyone else. And we have beautiful people like you (Laura's family) and AstroKitty to thank for that.

Here are some forums that may help you:
Grief Healing Discussion Group
Grief Support Forum
And, if you EVER feel suicidal, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You'll be connected with a crisis worker who'll help you get through it. The line is toll-free and available 24/7.

Rest in peace, Laura.

 

[Teche]

I have no idea whether she was into submission, but Hazel Klug, 1986 from Richmond VA, fits the physical stats. http://doenetwork.org/cases/38dfva.html

There was a suitcase missing from her residence.

 

[carbuff]

Does Zelich have any ties to Connecticut in the mid-1970's?

 

[danzn16]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/...se-killings-b99299542z1-264736411.html?ipad=y



2nd body ID'd

He's had them for months. Why just now dump the suitcases? And why in such an easily found area? And wow, how many more missing women is he responsible for?


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[Claudette]

None of these specifically call out that they were sex workers. All are white females 120 lbs or under that disappeared in 2012.

Danyel Pauly - Indianapolis - can't find much at all except she was last seen getting into a car with a black male but that doesn't rule her out to me. She was 29.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/17147/22/


Lisa Knight - MI - sounds like the bf is a suspect but as I'm not finding much in 2012 I'm adding her in.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/knight_lisa.html


Kara Nichols - I know the name but haven't followed her case at all. She disappeared from CO but had ties to Chicago.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nichols_kara.html


Jacqlin Nelson - Detriot, MI no info on her
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/20759/1/


There are more I need to go through but wanted to get some up. I don't think any of these are vics but you never know.

 

[copsdaughter]

Does Zelich have any ties to Connecticut in the mid-1970's?

I doubt it. He graduated from Thomas Moore HS in Milwaukee in 1979, said to have gone there all 4 years.

 

[ArianeEmory]

Does Zelich have any ties to Connecticut in the mid-1970's?

Just lurking, but wouldn't that put him in his teens at best?

(I know that doesn't make it impossible.)

 

[carbuff]

Going back a bit but after his high school graduation: http://doenetwork.org/cases/2874dffl.html, Sharon Anne Harrer, missing since November 26, 1979 from St. Petersburg, Florida

She got into a Cadillac with a man who called himself Robert Crawford. They were never seen again.

 

[carbuff]

I doubt it. He graduated from Thomas Moore HS in Milwaukee in 1979, said to have gone there all 4 years.

Thank you. That makes it unlikely, for sure. (There's a cluster of unidentified women in Connecticut in the seventies.)

 

[copsdaughter]

Farmington police detective sergeant Lee Hollatz wrote a letter to Zelich??!! Is this for real? At that point they had enough evidence to get a search warrant to pass on to WI or probably even have FBI do it. Who in the heck writes a stinkin letter to a kidnap/murder suspect?? He had the video showing SZ checking in hotel with Laura and checking out without her. Is this guy Barney Fife? Sorry, I'm very frustrated by the incompetence by police here.
http://www.farmingtonindependent.co...ementary-school-parking-lot-eastern-wisconsin

 

[Claudette]

Anyone here familiar with the Kara Nichols case? I'd love for you to weigh in as I know nothing about it.

Came across this People article, Kara and two other missing girls are discussed, all three had ties to a modeling website called model mayhem. Apparently 13 girls tied to this website have gone missing. Does this website operate as something other than a place for models and photographers to find work? CO isn't so far from MN and WI that I would rule it out based on distance, unless we find out he was a total homebody.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20678235,00.html


ETA one of those girls was found alive. Also, Kara has a history with prostitution.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/blog/2013/05/23/kara-nichols-still-missing/index.html

 

[Marg from Oz]

If he is a serial killer why were these specific woman kept for a time before disposing of them? Does he get some kick out of watching decomposition?

Also there is no background on his previous life. Has he been married, does he have kids?

Usually you have people come out saying they went to school with them etc. but he seems to have had no life before joining the police department.

I think he discarded the suitcases in the open for self gratification of how smart he was and iirc they were found not far from the police station.

Hope he wants to big note himself and if he did kill more girls he confesses to them. JMOO

 

[Claudette]

Yep.

"When she was 19, Mourning connected with someone on Model Mayhem's website who wanted to be her manager and ended up becoming a victim of sex trafficking."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/colorado-women-missing-model-mayhem-kara-nichols-raven-cassidy-furlong_n_2787054.html

 

[Solitaryone]

I think SZ wanted the bodies to be found, or else he would not have disposed them in the way he did. SZ wanted to savor the media reports of the bodies when found. Since SZ kept them for so long, I wonder why he chose to dispose of them when he did, and why this location.

I wonder if SZ "documented" his murders with photographs? I'll bet he has more storage units that no one knows about. This case(s) is just horrifying. Who knows how many victims there are.

 

[FBEye]

On the Wisconsin Court System Circuit Court Access site you can see all his Wisconsin history including the current cases filed today... Go to:


<modsnip>

So how do you become a police officer and then a security officer with this record?

 

[Wisconsin_sleuth]

This makes my skin crawl. I live in West Allis (Born & Raised), less than a mile from his house. I don't know any more than you guys do (I actually get most of my info here lately!) But I, for one, am not surprised that WAPD did not press charges for the handcuffed woman back in 2001. They have a history of inneffectiveness. I was discouraged from pressing charges following a Sexual assault which occurred in my home in 2011. I had been drinking (It was my birthday!), and WAPD officers flat out implied that they did not believe me. I can't explain it, but the way I was treated was almost like they thought I had "deserved" this. Probably the same attitude they had for that poor naked woman Zelich was caught with in 2001.

Maybe if they had taken the 2001 incident, this wouldn't have happened to those women.

How can someone hide a body inside an apartment building for 9-12 months? Wouldn't someone notice the smell? Do you think he thought that if he let the bodies decompose enough, his physical (DNA) evidence would deteriorate?

I think he must be a narcissistic serial killer. Why else would he be so bold as to leave those suitcases somewhere he KNEW they would eventually be found?