For now, he’s charged with hiding corpses in case that involves sexually deviant behavior, dumping bodies stuffed in suitcases
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
A West Allis man who allegedly “caused the deaths” of two women he met online in 2012 and 2013 is scheduled to appear in Walworth County Circuit Court Friday afternoon.
Steven M. Zelich, 52, a former West Allis police officer according to news reports, is charged with two counts of hiding a corpse in connection with the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in suitcases off North Como Road in the Town of Geneva on June 5.
One of the women is identified as Laura J. Simonson, 37, of Farmington, Minn., whose mother reported her missing Nov. 22. The second victim has not yet been identified, and police are seeking help from the public.
According to the criminal complaint in the case:
When her body was found, a rope was wrapped around Simonson’s neck and she had a sexual ball gag strapped into her mouth with a collar and was naked. The unidentified woman was partially concealed in a garbage bag and her hands were bound with rope behind her back. Both women showed obvious signs of decomposition, indicating they’d been dead for a long period of time.
The Associated Press reported Zelich might have met Simonson on a sexual bondage website.
Zelich told police he met the unidentified woman in 2012 through online chatting. He said he met the woman in person in late 2012 or early 2013 in Kenosha County, and “during that meeting, he caused the death of” the woman, according to the criminal complaint. Zelich told police he put the woman in a suitcase and hid her at his home in West Allis and in 2014 hid her body in his vehicle.
Zelich told police he met Simonson online before meeting her personally in Rochester, Minn., in November. He said during that meeting, “he caused her death, put her in a suitcase and transported and hid her body in his vehicle,” according to the complaint.
During the first week of June, Zelich said, he transported both bodies in the trunk of his vehicle to the Town of Geneva where he hid them off of the roadway in tall grass, according to the complaint. The suitcases were discovered by a road worker who moved them to the shoulder of the road to mow in the area June 5.
Police have not revealed the manner of the women’s deaths but said Zelich will likely face homicide charges in the locations the women were killed.
According to an Associated Press report, Minnesota police believe Simonson died at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Rochester because she checked in with Zelich on Nov. 2 and Zelich left alone the next day.
Police in Farmington, Minn., where Simonson lived before being reported missing said Zelich has long been the No. 1 suspect in her disappearance, according to the Associated Press.
Simonson’s father, Richard Wierson, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Simonson struggled with mental illness since adolescence and her seven children had been placed with him since 2010. He said Simonson had also placed escort ads on Craig’s List.
After she was reported missing, an ad was placed online claiming Simonson had been enslaved, tortured and abused by Zelich, according to reports.
An email from Zelich appears on an online discussion board, “MasterB Slave Club,” in which he seeks “no limit enslavement, imprisonment, captivity, animalization … ideally in a farm/caged situation,” according to the Associated Press article.
According to the report, Zelich worked for the West Allis Police Department from February 1989 until he resigned in August 2001. Since 2007, he was a licensed private security officer, which required passing criminal background checks every two years.
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