Jurors allowed to hear about 2nd homicide in Wis. case

Published 9:46 am Thursday, December 31, 2015

KENOSHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge will allow jurors in a homicide case against a former police officer to hear about a Minnesota woman the defendant’s also suspected of killing.

The remains of the two victims were found in suitcases along a highway near Lake Geneva in June 2014.

Former West Allis officer Steven Zelich is charged in Kenosha County with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the 2012 death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, from Cottage Grove, Oregon. He’s also suspected of killing 37-year-old Laura Simonson, of Farmington, Minnesota, at a Rochester hotel in 2013.

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Court records said Zelich told investigators he accidentally choked both women to death during consensual sex.

According to a press release, prosecutors were able to convince Judge Bruce Schroeder on their third try to allow jurors to hear about Simonson’s death.