6 serial killers who left deep scars on Wisconsin
Wisconsin has seen its share of heinous serial killers over the years. Here's a look back at the horrific criminal cases that have scarred state history.
Serial killer Ed Gein
Ed Gein is one of Wisconsin’s most notorious killers. He was arrested for murder in 1957 after the headless body of a woman was found hanging in his shed in Plainfield. It was said to be “dressed out like a deer.” Authorities then found parts of other bodies and decided that Gein had robbed graves and also likely murdered other people. He used skin and body parts to make things such as chairs and lamp shades. Gein was found guilty but criminally insane and sent to Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, where he died in 1984, at age 77. Gein’s case inspired the movie “Psycho,” with the character of Norman Bates representing Gein.
Shown above: Gein, center, is shown when he was arrested in 1957.
Serial killer Ed Gein
Ed Gein, center, is escorted to the state crime lab by Waushara County Sheriff Art Schley, right, and his deputy, Leon "Specks" Murty, on Nov. 19, 1957.
Serial killer Ed Gein
A Wisconsin State Journal from Nov. 19, 1957, reports on the Ed Gein murder and grave-robbing story.
Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin
Joseph Paul Franklin was a racist killer responsible for 18 slayings, including two in Madison. He gunned down a young biracial couple at East Towne Mall in August 1977. Police say he went on a killing spree in the late 1970s and early 1980s, fueled by hatred of African-American and Jewish people. He also robbed banks. Franklin, a drifter, ended up in Madison because he was planning to kill a local judge for making what he thought was a poor sentencing decision in a sexual assault case. But he happened upon the couple first. Franklin was eventually sentenced to death in Missouri for shooting a synagogue member near St. Louis. He died at age 63 by lethal injection on Nov. 20, 2013.
Shown above: Franklin is pictured here in 1997.
Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin
Joseph Paul Franklin is pictured in Dane County Circuit Court on Nov. 8, 1985.
Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin
Joseph Paul Franklin is pictured in Dane County Circuit Court on Jan. 7, 1986.
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to killing 16 young men in Milwaukee and one in Ohio. He told investigators that he had sex with the corpses, cut them up and ate parts of their bodies to fulfill his fantasies. Most of the men were black, and he tried to target victims in gay bars – looking for someone who he thought wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared. The crime spree ended in July of 1991 when a man who was to be Dahmer’s 18th victim managed to escape from the killer’s apartment. Dahmer, convicted of 15 homicides in Wisconsin, was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences. He was beaten to death in 1994 by a fellow inmate at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage.
Shown above: Dahmer is pictured at his initial appearance on charges filed against him in 1991.
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer sits in court during his 1992 trial on charges in the deaths and dismemberment of many men. To Dahmer's right is his attorney, Gerald Boyle.
Serial killer David Spanbauer
David Spanbauer, a paroled sex offender in Oshkosh, admitted abducting two girls as they bicycled on rural roads, assaulting and killing them and dumping their bodies in rural areas. He also confessed to killing an Appleton woman in her home, along with committing many rapes. In 1994, Spanbauer was sentenced to three life sentences plus 405 years. Spanbauer died July 29, 2002, in Dodge Correctional Institution from complications of heart and liver disease, at the age of 61.
Shown above: Spanbauer is shown in court on Nov. 18, 1994, in Appleton.
Serial killer David Spanbauer
David Spanbauer is escorted out of Outagamie County Circuit Court on Nov. 29, 1994, after a hearing.
Serial killer Walter Ellis
Walter E. Ellis was convicted Feb. 18, 2011, of killing seven Milwaukee women over a span of 21 years -- between 1986 and 2007. All seven victims were strangled; one also was stabbed. He eventually pleaded no contest in the slayings. Investigators suspected all of the victims were prostitutes, but some of the victims' family members dispute that suggestion. Ellis was arrested Sept. 5, 2009, after the Milwaukee Police Department's cold case unit sifted through thousands of cases and tested the DNA of more than 100 people. Ellis was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences with no eligibility of parole. He never said why he did it, and two other men were wrongly convicted of homicides linked to Ellis.
Shown above: Ellis is pictured at a court hearing Dec. 23, 2010, in Milwaukee. He died in prison at the age of 53 on Dec. 1, 2013.
Serial killer Walter Ellis
Serial killer Walter E. Ellis is led in for an initial court appearance on Sept. 9, 2009, in Milwaukee.
Serial killer Edward Edwards
Edward W. Edwards was convicted in 2010 of killing two Wisconsin teenage sweethearts in August 1980, a double-murder that had long been a mystery. At the same time, he also pleaded guilty to a double murder in Ohio in 1977. In Wisconsin, Edwards killed Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, both 19, after they disappeared from a wedding reception in Sullivan, about 40 miles east of Madison. Searchers found their bodies in the woods two months later. Police believe Hack was stabbed and Drew was strangled by Edwards, who was working in the area at that time. Edwards eventually admitted to killing his foster son in June 1996. He was also linked to other murders in Ohio and Portland, Oregon, but he only admitted to five. He ended up serving his prison time in his native Ohio and died of natural causes there on April 7, 2011. Edwards, 77, was to have been executed by lethal injection four months later.
Shown above: Edwards, age 76 and in poor health at the time, makes his initial appearance in the Jefferson County Courthouse on Aug. 13, 2009.
Serial killer Edward Edwards
Edward Edwards appears at his sentencing in Jefferson County Circuit Court on June 21, 2010.
Teryl Franklin | Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises National News Editor
Teryl Franklin is the National News Editor for Lee Enterprises. She previously worked in a variety of roles for the Wisconsin State Journal, including managing editor and senior editor for audience development.
Wisconsin has seen its share of heinous serial killers over the years. Here's a look back at the horrific criminal cases that have scarred state history.
Madison police are investigating after three men were stabbed near the Capitol Square around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Wisconsin Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected a request by “Making a Murderer” subject Steven Avery to hold a hearing on new evidence that he wanted to present for a new trial.
An Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Wisconsin woman whose body has not been found, Polk County authorities said Wednesday.
Officials said they have "no reason" to believe the dead body has anything to do with the thousands of Afghan evacuees staying at Fort McCoy.
A man was arrested Saturday for using a metal pipe to rob stores in Janesville, police said. The robberies ended with a police chase.
Police arrested five people Saturday after they sideswiped another vehicle, crashed a stolen car and fled the scene. A sixth suspect was not found.
One person has been arrested after a fatal shooting inside a gas station in Dane County Sunday morning.
Multiple shots were fired but no one injured on Regent Street early Sunday morning, police said.
Witnesses reported seeing a woman slumped over in a vehicle in a Beloit park Saturday. Shortly after, the driver crashed into a fire truck. The woman died.
A child was killed in a two-vehicle crash in Richland County Saturday afternoon, officials said. One of the drivers failed to stop at a stop sign.
A probable cause affidavit states the man told police he accidentally put his car in reverse with the driver's door open.
A man was sitting inside of his vehicle Sunday evening on the Southwest Side when the car was struck with gunfire, according to Madison police.
A 69-year-old Middleton man was arrested Saturday night for a fourth offense of operating while intoxicated, police said.
Madison police are looking for three teenage boys who allegedly fled a Target in a stolen SUV after one of them stole a woman's purse.
The Beloit police officer who shot and injured a man last week was identified Monday as Sgt. Shannon Dykstra. The man she shot is expected to survive.
A man suspected of attempted homicide tried to stab sheriff's deputies multiple times, cutting through the uniform of one deputy, the Adams County Sheriff's Office said.
A man fired several rounds at his own car Thursday morning while a stranger drove away with it in Madison, police said.
A Madison woman was sleeping inside her home when she was almost hit by a stray bullet, according to Madison police.
Madison police are investigating a shooting that happened on the Far East Side Friday evening shortly before 7:30 p.m.
The suspect said he wanted the woman subjected to "the most brutal ... rape imaginable," according to court records.
A man and woman were trying to pick up drugs in a Home Depot parking lot when they were hit with gunfire.
Several guns were stolen in the middle of the night from a gun shop in a town in southern Wisconsin, police said.
The Rock County District Attorney said Friday that a Beloit police officer was using force that was "both legal and appropriate" when she shot a man who attacked her.
A man accused of attacking a Fond du Lac police officer who suffered broken bones was charged in the case Friday.
A 47-year-old man was arrested Saturday afternoon for allegedly shooting and killing an 8-year-old girl in Milwaukee.
Madison police have arrested a man who police say is suspected in a string of burglaries in Madison.
A man's body was found in Dane County Monday after he was shot and killed in Milwaukee homicide several hours earlier, authorities say.
A Milwaukee man accused of killing his girlfriend and trying to kill his teenage daughter in a double shooting in Milwaukee has been arrested following an hours-long standoff in northeastern Iowa.
A bank in a small Dodge County village was robbed Wednesday afternoon. Deputies have now arrested a suspect.
Two women were killed in less than three days in Beloit. Police say the homicides are not connected.
The fatal shooting of a 19-year-old shortly after a Beloit high school basketball game has prompted the school to limit attendees at sporting events.
The Portage Fire Department responded to a "heavy fire" Saturday that resulted in the total loss of a garage.
A 63-year-old Monroe man was found dead Tuesday morning after a fire destroyed two homes and two vehicles in a Monroe trailer park, authorities said.
Chandler Halderson, who has been found guilty of murdering and dismembering his parents, requested Friday to be absent from his sentencing next week.
Chandler Halderson request to skip sentencing an 'affront to the public's interest,' prosecutor says
"The criminal justice system does not serve at the pleasure of convicted murderers," Deputy District Attorney William Brown said in a letter.
The semi became fully engulfed in flames, causing traffic backups on the interstate and the closure of a bridge.
"This was not a random attack. The victim was targeted," the Darlington police chief said of a weekend stabbing.
No one was injured in a hotel fire Monday that was quickly extinguished by a sprinkler system, the Madison Fire Department said.
The man who was killed in the street Wednesday was leaving the jail when he was shot in a "pre-planned," "targeted" incident, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Thursday.
One of two men charged in the shooting death of a Fitchburg man just outside the Dane County Jail on March 30 was hospitalized on Wednesday, authorities reported.
A semi was found overturned, and an SUV was on its side in a ditch after a two-vehicle crash in Grant County that killed one woman, authorities said.
Someone fired multiple shots from their vehicle at another moving car on the Beltline in a "targeted," "brazen" shooting, the Monona police chief said. No one was injured.
The driver allegedly backed into another vehicle, fled police multiple times in his car and later ran away from officers on foot in Dane County, authorities said.
A McDonald's and a Walgreens near UW-Madison's campus were allegedly robbed Friday night. The robber was armed with a gun in both cases, police said.
UW-Madison said Saturday that its increasing its patrols after two armed robberies Friday night. No arrests have been made.
"I love you, but I got to do this," the man said before attacking his mother with a knife in Monroe, according to a criminal complaint.
One person was shot and killed in Janesville on Tuesday, police said. Officers have arrested a suspect.
The man allegedly opened fire in the workplace on Tuesday, shooting and killing a co-worker, police said. He claims he was bullied — something Janesville police say there's no evidence of.
Madison police received multiple reports of shots fired on the Southwest Side around 1:10 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, but found no shell casings or property damage in the area.
Firefighters arrived to find "fire rolling out of the kitchen and into the next room" in one of the apartment units, the Madison Fire Department said.
The robbers allegedly pointed a gun at the two children and took their 4-month-old puppy in broad daylight in Milwaukee, police said.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before finding Marcus Randle El guilty in the slayings of 27-year-old Brittany McAdory and 30-year-old Seairaha Winchester.
Lou Griffin was originally charged in October 2020 with first-degree intentional homicide in Lisa Holstead's killing. Her body was found in a swamp in a Green Bay nature area in 1986.
Taylor Schabusiness faces homicide, mutilation and sexual assault charges in connection with Shad Thyrion's death in February 2022.
Madison police were in the area searching for a homicide suspect, but police and state officials declined to say whether the dead man was the homicide suspect.
Kristin L. Schmitt, 41, was found dead inside her home on Richard Street about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.
Taylor Schabusiness is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault in the killing of Shad Thyrion, 25, in February 2022.
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Wisconsin has seen its share of heinous serial killers over the years. Here's a look back at the horrific criminal cases that have scarred state history.
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Dr. Beth Potter, 52, a family medicine physician, and her husband, Robin Carre, 57, died from "homicidal related trauma," the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office said.
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Gunshots sent people fleeing from Southwest Side basketball courts Monday night, Madison police reported.
If you're missing the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's usual Concerts on the Square series, pushed back and replaced partly by drive-in concerts because of COVID-19, here's a look back at scenes from the event over the years.
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