Walworth County case is up next

Minnesota authorities will wait to try Zelich for murder

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

After Steven Zelich reached a plea bargain on a charge of first-degree reckless homicide in Kenosha County Circuit Court last week, it is only a matter of time before he faces court officials in two other counties.

Steven Zelich
Steven Zelich

Zelich, a former West Allis police officer, was originally charged in Kenosha County Court with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Jenny Gamez, 19 of Oregon state.

But, after Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder granted a prosecutor’s motion to allow information about the homicide of 37-year-old Laura Simonson in Minnesota in the jury trial, he took the plea.

Conditions of the plea agreement include the reckless homicide charge of a maximum 60 years, plus five years for use of a weapon and 10 years for hiding a corpse when he carried her body in a suitcase out of a Comfort Inn and Suites on Highway 50 at Interstate 94 in Kenosha.

A total conviction equates to 75 years, pending his March 30 sentencing hearing in Kenosha County Circuit Court.

The plea bargain could delay Walworth County’s efforts in prosecuting him on two charges of hiding a corpse stemming from a June 5, 2014, incident when Zelich allegedly placed two suitcases containing the bodies of Gamez and Simonson on North Como Road in the Town of Geneva.

Jenny Gamez (Photo Courtesy of KEZI of Eugene, Oregon)
Jenny Gamez (Photo Courtesy of KEZI of Eugene, Oregon)

Zelich is due in Walworth County Court Feb. 12, but according to District Attorney Dan Necci, it could be postponed pending the outcome of the Kenosha County sentencing hearing.

“It is a separate case and it will probably affect how we’ll operate, and how the defense will operate,” Necci said. “So if you want me to guess, I can imagine both sides will reconvene after his sentencing hearing in Kenosha County.”

According to the criminal complaint filed in the Kenosha County case, Gamez met Zelich through an online sexual bondage website, and he convinced her to fly to Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee for a meeting in August 2012.

Zelich and Gamez went to the Comfort Inn and Suites in Kenosha, where she died during what Zelich said was “breath play.”

In the criminal complaint, Zelich said it was an accident that resulted in her strangulation.

After Gamez’s death, Zelich came in contact with Simonson of Farmington, Minn. through a similar online site.

Laura Simonson
Laura Simonson

Zelich allegedly met Simonson in person November 2013 at Microtel Inn and Suites in Rochester, Minn. He told investigators she also died accidentally during the sexual encounter, according to the criminal complaint.

He also stored her body in a suitcase and placed it in his West Allis home.

When odor from the remains became a problem, Zelich allegedly moved the bodies to his vehicle’s trunk until leaving them on North Como Road in the Town of Geneva in Walworth County in June 2014.

A Walworth County highway worker discovered the two suitcases while mowing grass June 5.

Gamez was partially covered in a garbage bag with her hands bound with a rope behind her back, according to the earlier reports.

With no missing persons complaint filed in the Gamez disappearance, it took authorities weeks to identify her using dental records.

In Simonson’s case, the Waukesha County medical examiner found her naked with a rope wrapped around her neck and a ball gag in her mouth.

Rochester Police Captain John Sherwin said Monday night that the Olmsted County, Minn. case, in which Zelich faces a charge of first degree premeditated murder, hinges on the Wisconsin cases.

“It doesn’t make sense to transport him back and forth between states,” said Sherwin, who noted Zelich has an active warrant for his prosecution.

Sherwin acknowledged one of his officers was issued a subpoena to appear in Kenosha County Circuit Court last week, but did not testify due to Zelich’s surprising plea bargain.

“Arrangements will be made after the Wisconsin cases,” Sherwin said. “Once he gets into the State of Wisconsin corrections, there will be discussions.”

Meanwhile, the Report has filed an open records request in Walworth County for Zelich’s attendance records in the jail in Elkhorn, where it appears Zelich has spent most of his time since his 2014 arrest.

According to online jail records in Kenosha County, Zelich spent portions of his time behind bars in the pre-trial detention center, with eight stints, mostly for one day to coincide with court appearances.


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