True crime cases in Wisconsin span decades of criminal history, from unsolved disappearances in rural communities to high-profile investigations in the state's largest cities. Wisconsin law enforcement agencies, from local police departments to the state bureau of investigation, have tackled cases ranging from cold-case homicides and serial offenders to fraud schemes and domestic violence tragedies. CaseSleuth tracks each Wisconsin case with comprehensive timelines, profiles of victims and persons of interest, evidence summaries, and links to media coverage and court documents. Browse the cases below to explore the full scope of criminal investigations in Wisconsin.
2 cases found
Steven Avery, wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in 1985 and exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003 after serving 18 years, was arrested in 2005 and convicted in 2007 for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. His nephew Brendan Dassey, then 16 years old with significant intellectual disabilities, was convicted separately based on a confession widely criticized as coerced. Their cases became the subject of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer (2015), which raised worldwide questions about police misconduct, evidence planting, and the reliability of juvenile confessions, and prompted years of post-conviction legal battles that continue to this day.
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (1960-1994), known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. His crimes involved drugging, strangling, dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism. After his final intended victim Tracy Edwards escaped on July 22, 1991, police discovered human remains throughout Dahmer's Milwaukee apartment. Dahmer confessed, was convicted on 15 counts of first-degree murder in Wisconsin, and was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms on February 17, 1992. He pleaded guilty to an additional murder in Ohio. On November 28, 1994, fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat Dahmer to death at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.