By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
After being sentenced to 35 years for homicide by Kenosha County Circuit Court, Steven Zelich, 54, is now set to appear for a plea and sentencing hearing in Walworth County Circuit Court later this month related to the homicide of two women.
Zelich is next set to appear at 1:15 p.m. on May 25 in Walworth County Circuit Court.
Zelich, a former West Allis police officer, was charged in Walworth County Circuit Court in 2014 with two counts of hiding a corpse after a highway worker found two suitcases, containing the bodies of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, of Cottage Grover, Ore., and Laura Simonson, 37, of Farmington, Minn., along North Como Road in the Town of Geneva. Zelich originally pleaded not guilty to the charges in July 2014.
Zelich received a three-year concurrent sentence for concealing Gamez’s body in a suitcase and removing it from the crime scene. Gamez died during a sexual encounter with Zelich at the Comfort Inn and Suites on Highway 50 and Interstate 94 in Kenosha in 2012.
He initially faced a maximum 75 years in prison, but that was reduced, after the court considered he had no previous criminal record and cooperated in the investigation since his June 2014 arrest in the Walworth County case.
Kenosha County prosecutors contend Zelich, then 49, allegedly met then 16-year-old Gamez through an online sexual bondage website.
After six months of dialogue, Zelich ceased discussions, until she turned 18 years old.
Gamez was trying to get her life back in order, which included completion of her first year of Community College in Oregon following several years of being in the state’s foster care system.
Zelich convinced Gamez to fly to Mitchell International Airport for an August 2012 meeting, and transported her to the Kenosha hotel room
According to the criminal complaint, Gamez died during what Zelich said was “breath play.”
After Gamez’s death, Zelich came in contact with 37-year-old Laura Simonson of Farmington, Minn., through a similar online site.
Zelich met Simonson in person November 2013 in Rochester, Minn. He allegedly said she also died accidentally during a 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 became a problem, Zelich allegedly placed both suitcases in the trunk of his car, until a supervisor at his security company complained about the smell.
The following day, Zelich allegedly stashed both suitcases on North Como Road in the Town of Geneva in Walworth County in 2014, where a county highway worker discovered them 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.
It is believed Zelich will face extradition following the conclusion of the case in Walworth County to Minnesota, where Olmsted County prosecutors are pursuing homicide charges in Simonson’s death.
