Ex-Wisconsin Cop Charged with Two Counts of Murder Scheduled for Court Trial

A former Wisconcin cop accused on the murder of two women from Oregon and Minnesota is set to stand in court trial. The dead women's bodies were recovered, sealed in suitcases and were left along a highway. The ex-police officer is scheduled to appear in court trial this week for the first victim.

Stevin Zelich, a 54-year old former police officer of Wisconsin is charge with first degree murder intentional homicide and hiding dead bodies. Fox News reported, Zelich is charged for killing Jenny Gamez, 19 years old from Cottage Grove, Oregon in August 2012.  He was also charge of murder for the second time over the death of a 37 year old woman, Laura Simonson the following year. The victim died in Minnesota and the charges were filed in the said location, however, the case is put on hold.

According to NBC News, the selection for Jury will also begin on Monday in Gamez's case. The judge has also permitted the prosecutors to mention both women's death on Gamez's trial. Zelich admitted and claims he killed them accidentally during rough sex.

Court records and testimony said, Zelich met Gamez online and asked her to come to Wisconsin. He then picked her up at the airport in Milwaukee and drove the victim to Kenosha Hotel, where the two stayed for several days. Yahoo News reported, they played sexual games in which he would choke Gamez and ends up killing her when he lost control.

He also told the investigators that he put Gamez in her suitcase and brought it to his West Allis apartment, where he stashed her corpse in his home refrigerator. Simonson from Minnesota also died in the same manner back in November 2013. Base on the court records, regarding Simonson's case, Zelich said he also met her online and accidentally killed her while playing the said choking game at a hotel in Rochester, Minnesota.

He also brought Simonson's body back in Wisconsin in a suitcase and eventually put the two corpses in suitcases on the trunk of his car. He dumped them on the roadside where highway workers discovered them in June 2014. Jonathan Smith, Zelich's lawyer decline to talk about his trial strategy.

Tags

Former Wisconsin Police, Police Court Trial, Gamez-Simonson Murder

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