Former West Allis (Wisconsin) officer Steven M. Zelich, 52, has been arrested in two grisly homicides after the bodies of two women were found in suitcases along a rural road. They had been murdered over a year ago in what allegedly part of Zelich’s sadomasochistic fetish. What is most striking about this story is that Zelich was dropped from the force after a fight with a prostitute. However, no criminal charges were brought by the department against one of its own officers. Had those charges been brought, Laura Simonson, 37, and another unidentified woman might still be alive.
Zelich met both women online. He was reportedly a frequent participant on a sadomasochistic web forum. Zelich allegedly killed them both in the first meetings — at first hiding them for a while and then throwing them in suitcase along the road. A highway worker this month discovered the suitcases while cutting grass.
Zelich has reportedly admitted to causing the deaths though he has yet to be charged with murder. Simonson was killed after they met in Rochester, Minnesota in November 2013 and he first hid her body in his car. She was found with a rope around her neck and a gag strapped into her mouth with a collar.
Police are still trying to identify the second female victim.
What caught my eye was the reference in articles that Zelich in 2001 was forced to resign from the West Allis Police Department after an off-duty altercation with a prostitute. That had to be a bit more than a shocking match to result in such a resignation. Yet, that case was never charged or referred to the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution. He was later forced to resign from another company, Comprehensive Title LLC, where he served as a partner. He was accused of embezzling money but yet again no criminal charge was brought even though there was a civil judgment against Zelich and another partner for unpaid premiums. He then moved on to Securitas Security Services USA until June 28, 2007 but was placed on administrative leave after his arrest.
The company noted that in their search of his background “His employment records reflect no extraordinary or remarkable incidents and indicate a satisfactory work record.” That is because he seems to have been repeatedly spared from the bringing of criminal charges.
Simonson was a mother of seven children who had struggled with mental illness. Her children have had extraordinarily tough lives. They were taken from Simonson and put in foster care with her father, Richard Wierson, in 2010. They were then taken away from their father in 2011 after he sexually abused at least one of them. Now they can add a serial murder of their mother to an already nightmarish collection of memories of their childhood.
Source: JS Online
Paul wrote “some people are into s and m. Some are not.”
That part I got. My point was that it is a common defense for men being prosecuted for raping and killing women.
“I had a student who was into being choked during the sex act”
How did that subject arise, pray tell? It’s not exactly a typical remark for a class clown.
Karen S wrote “But if someone gets his pleasure from choking SOMEONE ELSE, I don’t think that’s erotic asphyxiation; I think that’s homicidal tendencies.”
I agree 100%. I cannot imagine paying close attention as to whether I’m choking someone too little / enough / too much during sex. But then again, I do not have any experience with choking women.
saucy – I keep in touch with a lot of my old students and I was IMing with her one day when her roommate took over the computer and, trying to be funny, exposed a few of her sexual kinks. My comment at the time was ‘So?’ Later I asked her about the choking because that seemed dangerous. She explained why she did it.
Karen – I am not talking from experience here, but I had a student who was into being choked during the sex act. She claimed it heightened her arousal. To each there own.
That is just so sad, especially about the Simonson children.
I wonder if these are his only 2 victims. His issues seem to span years. I would not be surprised if he had at least injured other women, besides the fight with the prostitute that ended his police career.
I think “rough sex gone wrong” usually happens when people are addicted to erotic asphyxiation (like David Carradine.) There are some people who can only experience pleasure if they are choked. I am unsure if it is classified as a mental illness, but it probably falls into that category. They choke themselves or ask their partners to do it, with obvious bad result happening sometimes.
But if someone gets his pleasure from choking SOMEONE ELSE, I don’t think that’s erotic asphyxiation; I think that’s homicidal tendencies.
“Was it Jeffrey Dahmer who met someone who wanted to be killed and eaten on some forum? ”
Apparently NYPD officer Gilberto Valle was charged with conspiracy in using on line chats to find women that he wanted to kill, cook and eat.
Seems like there was a case in Europe in which a guy actually located someone who wanted to be eaten – so he did. I don’t think they published his recipe.
You may wonder about the sanity of those seeking a victim. But I wonder about those who want to be the entree. I suppose that does make one the center of attention, for a while.
Annie wrote “I can’t fathom a woman meeting someone on a sadomasochistic web forum and then actually meeting him in person”
But then again, you are not a logical choice for a contestant on the Jerry Springer show. And I mean that in a good way.
Was it Jeffrey Dahmer who met someone who wanted to be killed and eaten on some forum? That person wasn’t a woman, but there are some really twisted people walking the streets.
saucy – some people are into s and m. Some are not.
Don’t tell me he still had the luggage tags on the suitcase for identification.
One would think that as a police officer he would do a better job of hiding the bodies. Maybe that will be his defense. No policeman in his right mind would have left the bodies in suitcases on the side of the road.
Here’s an appropriate essay that some will swear by, others will swear at, written by a psychiatrist who is not exactly in good favor with the status quo in his profession. Anyone who derrives pleasure from reading a point of view impossible to attain on one’s own, will be immensely rewarded if he does not go without reading this short, profound, familiar sketch of life on the other side of the pond.
The Worldview that Makes the Underclass
Anthony Daniels
Writer and Doctor
imprimis.hillsdale.edu/current
Pretty gruesome, but there are some very sick people out there who prey on others online. I can’t fathom a woman meeting someone on a sadomasochistic web forum and then actually meeting him in person. As indicated mental illness played a part, sad for her children, but I’m fairly certain their lives with this woman couldn’t have been a good one, considering what she was into.
As I’m able to give proof of – hands down; willful blindness, cover-up and color of law laxity almost always results in greater material adverse harms.
In this case – in the extreme.
@Paul C. Schulte “saucy – since the IRS has done all it can to destroy the Tea Party, I am not sure how anyone can be an ‘active Tea Party member.”
Even if the IRS did all it possibly could, they did not necessarily accomplish their purported goal.
The Tea Party seemed pretty active over there in Canton’s district. And over in Mississippi, Chris McDaniel seems only slightly deflated after giving Thad Cochran a run for his money.
If the Tea Party gets any more active we might all wind up wearing tricorn hats.
The failed investigations by the Milwaukee County DA are of Scott Walker.
The highly political and incompetent Milwaukee County DA’s office is too busy conducting failed investigations and prosecutions, and leaking grand jury info to the press. Prosecuting dangerous cops who dismember women get pushed aside for a disgraced political agenda. When you put all your resources on a political witch hint, guys like this get to kill.
“Simonson was a mother of seven children who had struggled with mental illness. Her children have had extraordinarily tough lives. They were taken from Simonson and put in foster care with her father, Richard Wierson, in 2010. They were then taken away from their father in 2011 after he sexually abused at least one of them. Now they can add a serial murder of their mother to an already nightmarish collection of memories of their childhood.” – JT
A terrible tragedy for those children.
Paul wrote “rough sex gone wrong”
“Rough sex” is only a last-ditch excuse used by violent murderers.
I tried to find an article regarding a man who kidnapped, raped, and killed a teenage girl. I think it was in Florida. There was a short video clip of him meeting her and grabbing her by the arm. His defense was that she died during “rough sex.” He was righteously convicted of murder.
“not sure how anyone can be an ‘active Tea Party member.’”
I meet them from time to time, online and in person. In general, they are the most ignorant people I have ever met.
“…or rough sex gone wrong.”
Sure, Paul — “…rough sex gone wrong.”
Once, maybe. Twice. I don’t think so.
More and more, there is increasing evidence how the environment mediates mental illness, murder, serial killing, sadistic and other unnatural behavior, etc. No single factor is responsible but rather a cocktail of toxins in both the environment and the food supply are now so ubiquitous, none of us are risk free. To give just one example (there are thousands by now), in the 70s, after the sugar shortage that doubled the price of snack foods, soft drinks and bakery items, chemical companies went to the drawing board and came up with high fructose corn syrup, an uber cheap substitute for sugar that actually helped improve the stock values of food companies, none of which, by the way, passed along the savings they all realized from high fructose corn syrup. I won’t go into all the evils of high fructose corn syrup, but suffice it to say that if you substituted alcohol for it instead, you’d be far healthier. For one, every other one of us would not be obese. High fructose corn syrup is responsible for negatively impacting every hormonal feedback loop in the body. You get hungry when you should be satiated. You get angry when you should be calm. You go shopping when you should conserve. With this one factor alone, never mind that there are thousands of others, one can make a pretty good statistical argument for the cause of all of our social problems that began to take root in the 70s. The only reason we are not all serial killers by now is because most of us are more resilient to toxins, or we haven’t been exposed enough yet, or we don’t use drugs, we stay out of Starbucks, we avoid restaurants, processed food, tobacco, alcohol, etc. Children are at the greatest risk because they haven’t developed resilience yet, and they are prodigious targets of soft drink companies and snack food companies, for example. Given their favorite celebrities endorse their favorite soft drink, all believe that Pepsi is the road to nirvana.
When I look at the picture of this Wisconsin police officer, I see a visage that points to disfigurement of every hormonal system in his body.
saucy – since the IRS has done all it can to destroy the Tea Party, I am not sure how anyone can be an ‘active Tea Party member.’
I think you have to get to three unrelated murders for it to be considered ‘serial’. At this point he is just allegedly guilty of two homicides or rough sex gone wrong.
Darren Smith wrote “Often, police adminstrations will nix the criminal charge that could be levied against a crooked cop if he/she resigns”
The same thing happens with corporate executives and politicians, in other words, it happens with people in power.
And speaking of people who were forced to resign, I’d like to remind everyone of Tom Alciere who is probably one of the commenters here. He was elected to the New Hampshire House, but was found to have left many messages on Internet forums calling for the murder of police officers. One of his better ones was an unpublished letter to the editor regarding Carl Drega who killed two state troopers, a part-time judge, and a newspaper editor. Alciere’s letter stated that except for the editor, Drega was ”an otherwise innocent cop-killer taking out enemy officers in battle.”
And it goes without saying that Alciere is an active Tea Party member.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/ndstue05.htm
Often, police adminstrations will nix the criminal charge that could be levied against a crooked cop if he/she resigns. Departments don’t like to have employment liability issues or they simply want to make the matter go away quickly, to avoid embarassment.
Sad what happened to these women and as mentioned the children.
The suspect seems to have a very predatory personality.