A man whom authorities believe to be Rodney Freeman Jr. is seen on a homeowner's surveillance video, walking through a backyard on Interlake Drive the night Freeman fled from police on foot. Freeman was found dead in a nearby lagoon two days later.
Video released Wednesday by the state Department of Justice shows a man fleeing from Monona police on foot in June, two days before his body was found in a nearby lagoon.
Also released Wednesday for the first time was the reason Monona police officers were pursuing the man in the first place.
On June 27, Monona police tried to stop the vehicle of Rodney Freeman Jr. — whose body was found two days later — because the car Freeman was driving fit the description of a vehicle involved in a Madison shooting earlier that same night.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday there was no evidence Monona police were responsible for Freeman’s drowning. His office will not be filing criminal charges against officers who pursued Freeman.
The body of Freeman, 21, was found June 29 in a lagoon connected to the Yahara River along the 500 block of River Place. Autopsy results found Freeman died from drowning, and there did “not appear to be evidence of a struggle or use of force,” the District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
The state Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation was investigating the death as a possible officer-involved death because in the early-morning hours of June 27, two days before Freeman’s body was found, Monona police officers had attempted to stop a car Freeman was driving in the area.
Freeman’s black Chrysler sedan sped away from police and crashed through a fence into trees, DOJ said. Freeman and a passenger both fled the car on foot, and officers conducted a K-9 search.
Officers first saw Freeman’s car just after 1 a.m. and ended the K-9 track just before 2 a.m.
Ozanne said there’s “no indication” law enforcement made contact with either vehicle occupant before Freeman’s body was found in the lagoon by a citizen.
Up until Wednesday, it was unclear why Monona police tried to stop Freeman’s car and why a K-9 search was conducted.
In reports released Wednesday, DOJ said Freeman’s Chrysler matched the description of a vehicle that was possibly involved in a shooting in Madison earlier that night.
Shots were fired at a home in Madison around 12:20 a.m. June 27 in the 3700 block of Hanover Street, according to a Madison police incident report. Arriving officers found two bullets inside the house on the block and five shell casings outside the home.
A video showed a vehicle driving past the home with a passenger shooting out of a rear driver side window, Madison police said.
It was unclear Wednesday if that was the Madison shooting that drew Monona officers’ attention to Freeman’s vehicle. Madison police did not provide a description of the vehicle involved in the house shooting.
The only other shooting reported by Madison police on June 27 occurred in the afternoon.
According to a criminal complaint, Freeman was also wanted on a warrant for three counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of first-degree reckless injury for an April shooting in Madison. He had not been convicted in that case.
DOJ did not release additional information on how Freeman may have ended up in the lagoon.
A person believed to be Freeman was seen at 1:59 a.m. on surveillance video walking across the backyard of a woman who lives on Interlake Drive. The location is a 10- to 15-minute walk from where Freeman’s body was later found behind the Country Inn and Suites at 400 River Place, according to Google Maps.
The man in the video was wearing a dark sweatshirt, blue jeans and one white tennis shoe on his right foot. When Freeman’s body was found he was wearing only one white tennis shoe, with the left shoe missing, DOJ said.
Inside the black Chrysler police found a 9mm pistol, keys, a red iPhone and a Visa debit card with Freeman’s name on it, DOJ said.
DOJ said it is not releasing the name of the registered owner of the car Freeman was driving, nor the name of the passenger who was with him.
<&rdpStrong>Sentencing of driver of car in which Anisa Scott was shot tops recent notable crimes in Madison area</&rdpStrong>
Sentencing of driver of car in which Anisa Scott was shot tops recent notable crimes in Madison area
Driver of car in which 11-year-old girl was shot sentenced to prison after federal probation revoked
The man who was the driver of a vehicle in which an 11-year-old girl was fatally shot last month was sentenced Thursday to nearly two years in federal prison after his supervised release for an earlier conviction was revoked.
Documents written by the federal probation agent assigned to Christopher M. Carthans, 33, also contain details about the shooting death of Anisa Scott that had not been released by police or in a criminal complaint against three people accused of first-degree intentional homicide for Anisa’s death following the Aug. 11 shooting.
Anisa, who was the daughter of Carthans’ girlfriend, was taken off life support on Aug. 13. She was shot in the head during what police said was a targeted attack against Carthans on East Washington Avenue on Madison’s East Side.
Kyla Robinson, sister of Tony Robinson, was victim who died in Friday car crash
Fifteen-year-old Kyla Robinson — the sister of Tony Robinson, a Black teenager who was shot and killed by Madison police in 2015 — died in a car crash Friday on the East Side, according to the Madison School District and social media posts.
La Follette High School Principal Devon LaRosa sent an email to parents and community members Monday sharing news of the loss. Kyla was a student at La Follette, LaRosa said.
“Kyla was a joyful and outgoing person, with a radiant smile and magnetic personality. She was known and loved in the community,” LaRosa said. “This is a devastating loss that is reverberating through our community.”
Andrea Irwin, Kyla and Tony’s mother, said in social media posts that Kyla was only 15 when she died in a car crash Friday.
Person dies from injuries sustained in multi-vehicle crash on East Side, Madison police say
One of three people injured in a multi-vehicle crash Friday afternoon on the East Side has died, Madison police said.
No names had been released, and an investigation was ongoing, Lt. Harrison Zanders said.
The crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. Two people were thrown from a car that lost control just after entering South Stoughton Road from Cottage Grove Road, police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.
Full report: Two militia arrests made; Jacob Blake, shot by Kenosha police, optimistic
A Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back Aug. 23, setting off days of protests that spread to other cities, including Madison. The shooting, captured on cellphone video, became another flashpoint in the nation's reckoning on race. Here's a look at ongoing news coverage in Kenosha.
Man arrested for setting woman on fire, striking man with vehicle in Waukesha, police say
WAUKESHA — Police have arrested a man for setting a woman on fire in Waukesha as she walked her dog and for hitting an elderly man with his vehicle and setting another fire at his property.
Neighbors said the woman was doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Witness Erin Duffy tells the Journal Sentinel the woman was badly burned on her arms and stomach.
Middleton woman punched and robbed at Far East Side hotel, Madison police say
A Middleton woman was punched and robbed at Far East Side hotel Thursday morning, Madison police reported.
At about 7:30 a.m., the Middleton woman was grabbed by her ponytail, pulled out of an elevator at the Super 8, 4765 Hayes Road, and repeatedly punched during a robbery, police spokesman Joel DeSpain said in a statement.
2 arrested after shooting at deputies during high-speed chase, Dane County Sheriff says
A man and a woman are in custody after allegedly leading police on a chase Monday night in which they fired multiple shots at Dane County sheriff’s deputies, including laser-guided rounds.
Michael D. Parks, 38, of Madison, and Amber R. Virnig, 30, of Mauston, were arrested Tuesday morning after authorities used drones and police dogs to search an area off Progress Drive in Cottage Grove where the pair fled on foot after Cottage Grove police used road spikes to stop the 2004 Toyota Prius they were in.
Madison police see big uptick in burglaries, urge residents to increase vigilance
Madison police are urging people to lock their doors and be more vigilant amid a surge in burglaries that have paved the way for more serious crimes up to and including murder.
On top of this summer’s increase in gunfire and stolen vehicles, burglaries have increased from 696 in the first eight months of 2019 to 932 in the first eight months of 2020, a 34% increase. Police say it’s no coincidence.
Madison 'kingpin' pleads guilty to multiple burglary, stolen vehicle charges
AMadison man who was described last year by police as a burglary and vehicle theft “kingpin” pleaded guilty Tuesday to 13 felonies in Dane County.
Cleaster L. Moon, 25, still faces four open cases elsewhere in Wisconsin — two in Waukesha County, and one each in Racine and Sauk counties, consisting of 21 felonies and 12 misdemeanors — mostly for similar burglaries and car thefts, according to court records.
Mauston places 4 police officers on leave for off-duty incidents, city says
The Mauston Police Department has placed four officers on leave as outside law enforcement agencies conduct investigations, the city said.
“There are two separate incidents involving two officers,” Mauston City Administrator Randy Reeg said. “All of them were off duty when the incidences occurred, and currently all four of them are on routine administrative leave while the incidences undergo routine investigation from external agencies.
Emily Hamer | Wisconsin State Journal
Emily Hamer is a general assignment reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. She joined the paper in April 2019 and was formerly an investigative reporting intern at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.
