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

[believe09]

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.

I understand completely, but I am not sure they have a confession so much as a "OOps my bad. Consensual sex act gone too far."

His psych eval must be or will be impressive I would think.

 

[momrids6]

Foster mom recalls Oregon woman found in suitcase

ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) — An Oregon teenager identified Monday as one of two women whose bodies were found in suitcases in Wisconsin had a hard time after giving up her son to his father, but she was turning her life around and had won a college scholarship before she disappeared, her foster mother said.

http://portal.tds.net/news/read/cat...nd_suitcase_body_confirmed_as_oregon_woman-ap

 

[MN Sleuth]

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

The ad on SecondCityClassifieds was not placed by the family. I can't say who it was because they have not been named in the media. I don't know if they will be either, but it wasn't the family.

 

[tatertot]

This older article verifies that discarded items are often found along that stretch of road:

http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/...in-Town-of-Geneva-262127041.html?device=phone

The mower, unsuspecting of the contents, simply moved the suitcases out of the way an by the side of the road (the nearby ditches are frequently used as dump sites for tires and other trash).

From the Town of Geneva's website, it appears that all garbage has to be in a can no more than 32 gallons in size:

http://www.townofgenevawi.com/uploads/documents/ORDIN-48 Garbage & Refuse Collection.pdf

If this is the case, probably a lot of bulky items like suitcases, TVs, etc. end up on the roadside because nobody wanted to pay to dispose of them at a landfill. Occasionally someone locally dumps household rubbish on the road, and he gets caught because the genius left mail with his address in the trash bag. Similarly, surely Zelich knew that LE would be knocking on his door once victims had been found with bondage devices, because they'd already questioned him about whether he was holding Laura in a BDSM situation.

Has this article been linked before? An interview with the man who called in the suitcases to LE, and a report that a man in a pickup at an intersection a few miles away had been seen several days before:

http://www.wisn.com/news/man-describes-seeing-suitcases-along-walworth-co-road/26427050#!7eQlf

A few days before, a man said he saw a maroon or pink suitcase fall from the back of that pickup truck, and then the driver get out and put it back in, struggling under the weight.

The other articles said Zelich owned a car, but did he also have a truck? Or borrow one? A work vehicle? And if the man driving the pickup was him, why did the suitcases fall out? No tailgate or was it overloaded with other items he was discarding?

If there's any chance he had access to a pickup I hope LE takes another look at all the roadside cleanup "finds," from Walworth Road and...I guess everywhere, since he drove so far to dump the suitcases in Geneva.

 

[Lurkey Lou]

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

This puzzled me as well, but maybe they have protocols on this kind of thing where if they find stuff like that roadside they aren't to open it but contact someone? NO clue.

 

[Judy]

Someone mentioned the autopsies and I have given this a fair amount of thought. First off I want to share that I believe he murdered these women. I'm thinking that a good autopsy may reveal more than what looks obvious (died from asphyxiation - in Laura's case) and they need other findings to support a murder (rather than sex gone bad). Is this what others here believe to be true, too?

I hope they take their time...:jail:

 

[ClaireNC]

Here is the video to the TMJ4 story I mentioned earlier: http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/i-team...ted-in-2001-for-attempted-rape-265459411.html

Unfortunately, I just missed the 10:00 interview with the prostitute, but it will hopefully be online later.

Thanks for posting this Badlands! For those catching up with the thread this morning, definitely watch this video. It has part of an interview with the woman he attacked in 2001 and gives some more information about the police searching Zelich's house in January and Feb 2014, plus more.

 

[OhThatVictoria]

good morning sleuthers . . . following is the WTMJ-4 link to the full report from last night's story / interview w/the young woman that Zelich attempted to rape in 2001. Note that the police visited Zelich's apartment three times in 2014 and reported no sign of bodies. It's quite conceivable that he did move them to his vehicle (if they were not offsite at another location) as the weather was cold enough where they could remain frozen.

http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/i-team...ted-in-2001-for-attempted-rape-265459411.html

 

[OhThatVictoria]

oops, just duplicated Claire's post, jinx - I owe you a coke.

 

[OhThatVictoria]

I've had no luck finding an obit for Zelich's Father. Fox reported that his Dad was a Sergeant w/Milwaukee (P.D. - assuming). I've searched a number of archives - no luck. Even w/different last name, you'd think that Steven Zelich's name (as son) would turn up in obit. Nada.

FOX6 News has learned Zelich’s father was a police officer — a sergeant for Milwaukee.

He passed away several years ago.

http://fox6now.com/2014/06/26/who-i...ested-in-connection-with-bodies-in-suitcases/

 

[cheko1]

Here is the post I was talking about in my previous post. I'm glad she came forward.

Well to any lurkers here ( Laura's Family or Jenny's) you now have the evidence you need to file wrongful death suits against the LE involved in that incidence....

LE buried the records when he resigned! How big of them. A good lawyer can get his hands on them. This is just wrong.

Which proves that just because SZ says it doesn't mean that its true. He called the gal a prostitute. Whether she was or not never gave him the right to body slam her, cuff her etc. Anyone else would of been arrested.

I for one don't believe a word he says.

 

[Rallygrrl]

I work in maintenance and property management.

My guess is the reason the road crew did not look in the suitcases may be several: (a) you do not have time. You have to stay ahead of the person driving the thrasher; (b) this may have been a temp position. I guess the only way to describe it is kinda like temp "snow removal" jobs. You are NOT an actual employee, you were just hired for the day. I have done a lot of temp work and in most cases, you are told NOT to do anything but what you were hired to do (in this case, your job is just to move stuff out of the way...not play Sherlock Holmes). In temp work, the contractor does not want you to do anything silly/stupid and get hurt because then the person/company who hired you is liable if you are injured. Plus, as a temp worker, you WANT the person/company to call you back when they have more work available...and if you do something you were not supposed to do, you do not get called back; (c) I work in the city of Milw. and that is probably not the same as a road crew in a rural area, but I clean out houses after people are evicted, pass away, or just up and leave. You would be surprised of the crazy stuff you come across. You do not have time to look into everything you find...and, in fact, sometimes (often) you have seen so many strange things it does not even phase you anymore when you run across something odd. It is all odd the things people keep, horde, abandon, trash, or leave behind. Just sayin'. Eventually, you get desensitized....it is just "abandoned crap". Do not think I am not sometimes saying to myself, "Hmmmmmmmm". I do. I am just saying that 99.9% of the time it is nothing but just something odd, but not illegal.

 

[copsdaughter]

I've had no luck finding an obit for Zelich's Father. Fox reported that his Dad was a Sergeant w/Milwaukee (P.D. - assuming). I've searched a number of archives - no luck. Even w/different last name, you'd think that Steven Zelich's name (as son) would turn up in obit. Nada.

FOX6 News has learned Zelich’s father was a police officer — a sergeant for Milwaukee.

He passed away several years ago.

http://fox6now.com/2014/06/26/who-i...ested-in-connection-with-bodies-in-suitcases/

I've tried too. I did find a link that said his obituary was in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel November 3, 2002 but it was a broken link. I did an archive search and nothing. His dad was born 7/14/30 and died 10/27/02. WI ccap has only SZ listed for his dad's will. A lot of stuff seems to be missing. Maybe scrubbed?

 

[Judy]

LE buried the records when he resigned! How big of them. A good lawyer can get his hands on them. This is just wrong.​

It wasn't that long ago. Different administration? LE had better come up with something better than this baloney!

 

[cheko1]

I've tried too. I did find a link that said his obituary was in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel November 3, 2002 but it was a broken link. I did an archive search and nothing. His dad was born 7/14/30 and died 10/27/02. WI ccap has only SZ listed for his dad's will. A lot of stuff seems to be missing. Maybe scrubbed?

It makes me wonder all the more where his Mom is / was?

 

[ClaireNC]

good morning sleuthers . . . following is the WTMJ-4 link to the full report from last night's story / interview w/the young woman that Zelich attempted to rape in 2001. Note that the police visited Zelich's apartment three times in 2014 and reported no sign of bodies. It's quite conceivable that he did move them to his vehicle (if they were not offsite at another location) as the weather was cold enough where they could remain frozen.

http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/i-team...ted-in-2001-for-attempted-rape-265459411.html

LOL yes, Jinx...you owe me a Coke!

Good point about him possible moving the bodies to the car in the winter when it was cold. On the other hand, would he know the searches were coming or when they were going to search? Would the officers searching the apartment look in the freezer? And, yes, there is the possibility of him having another location.

 

[cheko1]

LE buried the records when he resigned! How big of them. A good lawyer can get his hands on them. This is just wrong.​

It wasn't that long ago. Different administration? LE had better come up with something better than this baloney!

I agree! Different administration.........:tantrum:

Since when did that stop a investigation?
The families want answers not more cover ups!

 

[MN Sleuth]

It makes me wonder all the more where his Mom is / was?

From what I can find on the web, she is still alive. At least I found no obit for her. His parents were divorced in 1989.

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/pdfs/620F8...nder6/civilCaseDetails2155527947790651064.pdf

 

[Aeronomy]

I wonder where he's vacationed over the past 10 years.

 

[Aeronomy]

I've tried too. I did find a link that said his obituary was in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel November 3, 2002 but it was a broken link. I did an archive search and nothing. His dad was born 7/14/30 and died 10/27/02. WI ccap has only SZ listed for his dad's will. A lot of stuff seems to be missing. Maybe scrubbed?

FWIW, I haven't seen an obit, but his father was buried in Libertyville, Illinois.