WI WI - Stephanie Casberg, 17, Racine County, 6 July 1969

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

S

Stephanie Sleuth

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
1
Reaction score
3
I'm researching the case of Stephanie Marie Casberg, murdered in Milwaukee, WI in 1969. If anyone has any information, or knew Stephanie or her family, friends or co-workers, please contact me.
Thank you
 
I googled the name didn't find anything. Are you sure the spelling is correct?
 
I went to school with Stephanie. We hung out for a short time. I always wondered how such a horrific crime went forgotten. I am interested on where this case stands.
 
Google has a new feature which I just discovered this morning. Go to www.google.com and click where it says "news" right up above the box where you type in what you're searching for. After you click on news, there's a new feature right below the box that says "news archive search". Click on that and then in the box that comes up type in the name of the person you're searching for. I typed in Stephanie Casberg and sure enough, all the old news articles from 1969 and also one from 1970 came up. You have to get a subscription to NewspaperARCHIVE.com but if you click on one of the articles you want to read, there's a box below the picture of the newspaper article and you can read the article in that box. Some of the lettering is kind of messed up, but you can read at least a part of the article without getting the subscription. I'm going to get a subscription to NewspaperARCHIVE.com though because I was putting in the names from all kinds of cold cases today and it's really interesting to go back and read the original articles and also later articles that were written over the years about the cases.
 
Stephanie Sleuth said:
I'm researching the case of Stephanie Marie Casberg, murdered in Milwaukee, WI in 1969. If anyone has any information, or knew Stephanie or her family, friends or co-workers, please contact me.
Thank you
Click to expand...


Anything yet?
 
Stephanie Sleuth said:
I'm researching the case of Stephanie Marie Casberg, murdered in Milwaukee, WI in 1969. If anyone has any information, or knew Stephanie or her family, friends or co-workers, please contact me.
Thank you
Click to expand...

Actually seventeen year old Stephanie Casberg was murdered in Racine County. The MPD website http://city.milwaukee.gov/Police/coldcases#Cold_case_19 states she was last seen leaving work but the Milwaukee Journal states her eleven year old brother last saw her getting ready for work at 5:30 pm Monday, July 6, 1969 and was last seen by a witness getting into a yellow convertible in front of her house. She never made it to work for her 6:30 pm-12:30 am shift. She worked as a part time waitress at Marc's Big Boy in Juneau Village, 1111 N. Van Buren St. in Milwaukee, WI.

Because of the discrepancy between the police account and the newspaper account of where Stephanie was last seen alive, (her work or her home) one can only wonder. It's unknown whether the police checked the restaurant (now closed) itself to see if that was the kill site.

Some of her body parts were found several days later off of County Line Road in Franklin, WI, 1/4 mile west of I-94, on the east bank of the Root River right below a steel trestle. The first body part, the right leg, was found wrapped in newspapers by a ten year old boy fishing with his father.

When searchers combed the area, they found the head in a brown paper bag and both arms wrapped in newspapers in thick brush right below the trestle. A brown shoe and an Army jacket were found nearby. The torso and left leg were never found. A triangular bronze-colored earring with a small oval blue stone was in her left ear. The other one was missing.

Searchers later found her purse and a pink blanket five miles north a short distance from the Root River in the 7000 block of S. 68th St. in Franklin. A torn up photo copy of her picture was found off another street in Franklin.

On July 16, 1969, during a continuing search for evidence, a 34 year old dead man, Grant Hughes, was found in his running vehicle which was parked in thick brush near the dump site of the body parts approximately 3/4 of a mile southeast of the dump site. A hose was attached to his exhaust and stuck in a cracked window. Two notes were found inside his car. Police cleared him of any involvement in the murder according to the newspaper.

Some speculate that the killer was a butcher because of the way the body was cut up. The cause of death was never revealed by the police or the newspapers to my knowledge either because the torso was never found or they chose to withhold that information.

Note that if you read the Tuesday, July 15, 1969 edition of the Milwaukee Journal it states that more body parts were found in the area where the first body parts were found. Yet, later news articles after that date never follow up on that July 15 article or confirm what those body parts were or whether any were actually found.

Is it possible that the police decided to not release any more information on what those body parts were for some reason?

This case can be checked through Milwaukee Journal newspaper microfilm July 1969. I'd presume that Racine County's newspaper might have a little more closer-to-home coverage so if anyone has access to their accounts of what happened, feel free to post it here. This is a true forty one year old murder mystery that has received almost no internet coverage.

It would be interesting to see what the thread starter of this case has uncovered since posting four years ago.
 
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JHRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NREEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2674,4622873&dq=stephanie+casberg&hl=en

Tuesday, July 22, 1969 Milwaukee Sentinel:

Missing body parts of Milwaukee murder victim Miss Stephanie M. Casberg have been found along a lover's lane in nortehrn Racine County, Sheriff Joseph J. Blessinger reported Tuesday.

Authorities said the parts had been lift in a weather-beaten cardboard box along S. 92nd St. about a half mile south of Seven Mile Rd.

The heavily wooded farm area is about a mile south of the Racine-Milwaukee County line.

It is about five miles west of the Root River area of Racine County in which other parts of the victim's mutilated body parts were found earlier.

Blessinger said the missing parts included a thigh bone, pelvis, rib cage and other leg bones. Other parts of the victim's dismembered body had been found July 9, two days after the 17 year old girl was last seen alive.

Daniel Thibedeau, Route 1, Franksville, told police he had seen a bone on his front lawn Friday night, but thought it was only some bone his dogs had taken from the nearby wooded area.

However, while he and relastives were practicing trap shooting about 8 pm Monday, they spotted what turned out to be the missing pelvis on his back lawn. His wife, Alvina, telephoned the sheriff's office.

Deputies took the two bones to St. Mary's hospital in Racine, where a pathologist, Dr. Myron Schuster, identified them as being those of a female human who had been dead about two weeks.

Blessinger said he organized a search party Tuesday morning, including about a half dozen deputies and as many Milwaukee police detectives.

Deputy Lowell Krause said he found the cardboard box about 13 feet west of S. 92nd...
Click to expand...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JHRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NREEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6927,4646745&dq=stephanie+casberg&hl=en

Article continues...

St. about 11 am. Another member of the search party found the rib cage nearby, authorities said...

...Authorities said the victim was last seen by a brother about 5:30 pm July 7 as she left home for her job as a waitress at Marc's Big Boy restaurant in Juneau Village, 1111 N. Van Buren St.
Click to expand...
 
This July 23, 1969 newspaper article states "Miss Casberg was last seen July 7 as she entered a yellow convertible in front of her home." (This would be approx. 5:30 pm, Monday, July 7, 1969. Her shift started at 6:30 pm.)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PDkoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JigEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4144,618621&dq=stephanie+casberg&hl=en

The above Milwaukee Journal article conflicts with the MPD's cold case website which states "She was last seen leaving work at Marc's Big Boy Restaurant on N. Van Buren Street in Milwaukee in the early morning hours of July 7, 1969. (This would be 12:30 am." Monday, July 7, 1969)

http://city.milwaukee.gov/Police/coldcases#Cold_case_19

But then, the following article July 29, 1969 article states that the eleven year old brother had erred and never saw the yellow convertible according to police. So that mystery is solved.

Now we need to know who the witness is that last saw Miss Casberg alive leaving the restaurant.

That's quite a discrepancy in time.
 
This July 23, 1969 newspaper article states "Miss Casberg was last seen July 7 as she entered a yellow convertible in front of her home." (This would be approx. 5:30 pm, Monday, July 7, 1969. Her shift started at 6:30 pm.)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PDkoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JigEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4144,618621&dq=stephanie+casberg&hl=en

The above Milwaukee Journal article conflicts with the MPD's cold case website which states "She was last seen leaving work at Marc's Big Boy Restaurant on N. Van Buren Street in Milwaukee in the early morning hours of July 7, 1969. (This would be 12:30 am." Monday, July 7, 1969)

http://city.milwaukee.gov/Police/coldcases#Cold_case_19
 
Stephanie Sleuth said:
I'm researching the case of Stephanie Marie Casberg, murdered in Milwaukee, WI in 1969. If anyone has any information, or knew Stephanie or her family, friends or co-workers, please contact me.
Thank you
Click to expand...

I just saw this post, thinking of an old friend. I new Marie Casberg briefly, when I was almost 13, just before she passed. I was friends with her younger brothers for a few years, until we moved away. I cannot remember their names? One was Mike I think. I lived in the same neighborhood. It was a sad time. Walt.
 
scorpionsting said:
This July 23, 1969 newspaper article states "Miss Casberg was last seen July 7 as she entered a yellow convertible in front of her home." (This would be approx. 5:30 pm, Monday, July 7, 1969. Her shift started at 6:30 pm.)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PDkoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JigEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4144,618621&dq=stephanie+casberg&hl=en

The above Milwaukee Journal article conflicts with the MPD's cold case website which states "She was last seen leaving work at Marc's Big Boy Restaurant on N. Van Buren Street in Milwaukee in the early morning hours of July 7, 1969. (This would be 12:30 am." Monday, July 7, 1969)

http://city.milwaukee.gov/Police/coldcases#Cold_case_19
Click to expand...

The below link is for the new webpage for MPD's cold cases:

http://milwaukeecoldcase.wordpress.com/

I wonder why the younger brother's eyewitness account changed considering a friend of one of the Marc's Big Boy Restaurant managers owned a yellow convertible?
 
I spent a bit of time looking into this the other night. There are two good articles in the July 11th, 1969 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel. You can read them here:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...3RQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NREEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2835,2095438

There is one article on the first page and one on the third page. Both are continued on different pages.

A couple of points that I picked up from these articles:

- A photo of Stephanie was found torn up along the side of the road not far from her body.
- Her purse and a pink blanket were found at another location.
- Stephanie had been missing since Sunday, but no missing persons report had been filed. Her father heard about the body parts late Wednesday and contacted police.
- The body parts were cleanly severed.
- Stephanie lived at home with her parents and 6 brothers.
- Stephanie was described as outgoing, well dressed and pleasant. No one had a problem with her.
- Her manager at the Bog Boy restaurant said that she had been on vacation the previous week but was due back to work on Monday.
- According to one of Stephanie's friends, Stephanie had been going steady with a boy for about two months but they broke up in mid-May, but still dated. The boyfriend said they did go steady in school but "I didn't see her that much." He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her. The boy was a cook at a different Big Boy restaurant.

So did Stephanie actually work on Sunday night? Why did the manager say she had been off and wasn't due back until Monday? Did the yellow convertible pick her up and take her to work on Monday and then she disappeared after work? If so, that was her first day of work in over a week.

This really sounds like a jilted lover/angry boyfriend type slaying. One of the articles mentions the area along the river where she was found as a local lovers' lane. Someone was angry enough to dismember her and scatter her body and possessions in different locations. I wonder if she went to the lovers' lane area with someone after work late that night (not sure if this is Sunday or Monday) They use the blanket to sit on along the river and at some point he becomes angry and kills her. The problem with this theory is that he would have either had to come prepared to dismember her or he panicked and realized he had to cover his tracks so this seemed like a good idea? The torn picture seems so personal that I have a hard time believing it's random. Plus the time and determination it would take to dismember a body seems like it would take a lot of anger.

Of course, this could also be the work of a deranged killer who didn't know the victim. If that is the case I can't imagine this was his only murder.

This is also probably unrelated, but at least a couple of her brothers had trouble with the law later on. 2 of them were indirectly involved in a murder and another spent time in prison for first degree sexual assault. I'm not implying anything about the family but I wonder if something could have been going on.

I know there is little to no chance of this case being solved. I wonder if any evidence was preserved. It was decades before DNA but there must have been DNA all over the body.
 
A few clarifications from the above information.

The area where they first found the body parts was not a lovers' lane. The lovers' lane area is where additional body parts were found in a cardboard box almost 2 weeks later. The box was left along the road almost 5 miles west of the original site.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...HRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NREEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5054,4648203

Stephanie was last seen getting into a car at her house at 5:30pm on Monday. She was heading to work but never made it there. (Apparently Stephanie's brother later said he was mistaken about this?)
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...OgtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JygEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7147,2336367
 
- A photo of Stephanie was found torn up along the side of the road not far from her body.
Click to expand...

That does point to a jilted lover...or stalker...or it was staged to throw off detectives.

- Her purse and a pink blanket were found at another location.
Click to expand...

This scene could also have been staged.

- The body parts were cleanly severed.
Click to expand...

Whoever did it had experience as a butcher it would seem.

- Her manager at the Bog Boy restaurant said that she had been on vacation the previous week but was due back to work on Monday.
Click to expand...

Would this be the same manager that makes out the work schedule?

So did Stephanie actually work on Sunday night? Why did the manager say she had been off and wasn't due back until Monday? Did the yellow convertible pick her up and take her to work on Monday and then she disappeared after work? If so, that was her first day of work in over a week.
Click to expand...

I was under the assumption that she did work that night and left after her scheduled shift. It would be interesting to know who the last one was to see her alive. I assume a coworker.

This really sounds like a jilted lover/angry boyfriend type slaying. One of the articles mentions the area along the river where she was found as a local lovers' lane. Someone was angry enough to dismember her and scatter her body and possessions in different locations. I wonder if she went to the lovers' lane area with someone after work late that night (not sure if this is Sunday or Monday) They use the blanket to sit on along the river and at some point he becomes angry and kills her. The problem with this theory is that he would have either had to come prepared to dismember her or he panicked and realized he had to cover his tracks so this seemed like a good idea?
Click to expand...

Is it possible she was drugged with a date rape drug, taken to that location unconscious, woke up and recognized the person who was raping her and so he had to kill her? Was she last seen in the restaurant and was she seen actually leaving the restaurant? By whom?

The torn picture seems so personal that I have a hard time believing it's random. Plus the time and determination it would take to dismember a body seems like it would take a lot of anger.
Click to expand...

Whoever did it knew her and was familiar with the area where the body was found.

I know there is little to no chance of this case being solved. I wonder if any evidence was preserved. It was decades before DNA but there must have been DNA all over the body.
Click to expand...

Considering the public never hears anything about the evidence tells me they no longer have it. The police need to release more information about the case to the public and whether they have any POI's. A picture of the Army jacket found near the scene of the dump site would do for starters. Someone may recognize it.

Of course, this could also be the work of a deranged killer who didn't know the victim. If that is the case I can't imagine this was his only murder
Click to expand...
. I think the deranged killer knew the victim. I agree, this couldn't have been his only victim. There must be some common denominator regarding a lot of unsolved murders in Wisconsin. I wonder what it is? It appears the serial killer moved to or had ties to north central Wisconsin.

Stephanie MARIE Casberg, July 9, 1969, Racine County

These are all connecting counties where woman disappeared or were found murdered;

Bonnie MARIE Repinski (1975), Town of Menasha, Winnebago County
Dawn MARIE Schnetzer (1978), Town of Woodville, Calumet County
Jeanette MARIE Baneck (1983), Town of Weston,Marathon County
Janet MARIE Raasch (1984) Town of Buena Vista, Portage County
Rhys MARIE Pocan (1989) Town of Lyndon, Sheboygan County
Tanna MARIE Togstad (1992), Town of Royalton, Waupaca County
Dawn MARIE Mohn (2000), Green Bay, Brown County
Heather MARIE Szekeres, June 21, 2013, Town of Richmond, Shawano County

An ex-police officer's website re Stephanie Casberg:

http://www.badgerwordsmith.com/spingolafiles/2010/12/12/a-cry-from-the-grave/
 
October said:
A few clarifications from the above information.

The area where they first found the body parts was not a lovers' lane. The lovers' lane area is where additional body parts were found in a cardboard box almost 2 weeks later. The box was left along the road almost 5 miles west of the original site.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...HRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NREEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5054,4648203

Stephanie was last seen getting into a car at her house at 5:30pm on Monday. She was heading to work but never made it there. (Apparently Stephanie's brother later said he was mistaken about this?)
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...OgtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JygEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7147,2336367
Click to expand...

October

Is it possible that Stephanie's younger brother was coerced by one or two of the other brothers to change his story? Specifically the ones that got into trouble with the law? Is it possible that they belonged to a group of individuals in the neighborhood that were involved in certain activities? I thought I heard something about that.
 
scorpionsting said:
Sure, could you add the location of where the note was found? Where is the 4800 block of 7 Mile Rd in relation to where the body parts were found? The location of the blanket/purse would be helpful, too. Just wondering...
Click to expand...

scorpionsting said:
Sure, could you add the location of where the note was found? The location of the blanket/purse would be helpful, too. Just wondering...
Click to expand...

October, no need to update your map. I'm making one myself and will post it when done. Instead of the note, I meant to say a small torn-up photograph of Stephanie Casberg. I wonder if that photo was of the same one in the 1969 Riverside High School yearbook which had Stephanie's graduation photo in it?

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/tangledweb55/fisrtcasbergattack.jpg

Page four of the above article in the Racine Journal Times, July 30, 1969, shows that another waitress, 21 years old, from the same restaurant that Casberg worked at was attacked about a month before the Casberg attack. The attacker held a sharp object to the waitress's neck and told her to stop resisting or he would cut her head off. The attacker was described as about 20 years old, 5' 8" tall and had either light brown or blonde hair. Another waitress from Marc's Big Boy had come to the aid of the waitress who was attacked. The waitress NEVER reported the incident until after Casberg was found dead. Police said there may have been some connection between both incidents. Really?

Interestingly, other than being cut in pieces, Casberg had no other wounds or abrasions, except for two small puncture wounds on her neck, according to the newspapers.
Depending on which side of Casberg's neck had the puncture wounds and which side of the neck the assailant held the knife to on the other waitress could determine whether the suspect was right or left-handed. Of course, that would depend on whether the puncture wounds are from a knife or a needle. Even a description of the voice of the first assailant could be a clue. Raspy, accented, smooth, deep?

In fact, in the first case, two waitresses are witnesses. Were either of those witnesses also the last one(s) to see Stephanie alive on the last night she worked? Apparently, they never even told the other workers at the restaurant what had happened, because, from all appearances, Stephanie wasn't taking any precautions on going home from work. We don't know whether she walked home, took the bus or usually had a ride. We do know she had access to a yellow convertible, from some accounts.

I think those waitresses need to be questioned again. Additional clues could be gleaned in a follow-up investigation. They never reported a potentially deadly assault right after it happened. Why? What were they afraid of by filing a report more than by not filing a report?

Stephanie was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 11, 1951. Her father was stationed in the Air Force at Camp Carson, CO. Her family had moved to Milwaukee from Janesville, Wisconsin in 1957. She had recently moved from West Allis to her Bremen St. address shortly before her murder. Stephanie's paternal grandfather was a former Janesville police officer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Fairfield County Jane Doe (1993)?

Staff online

Members online

... and 227 more.
Total: 544 (members: 228, guests: 316)

Online statistics

Members online
228
Guests online
316
Total visitors
544
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
608,667
Messages
18,243,554
Members
234,416
Latest member
Nas-ock
Back
Top