An area state representative is continuing his fight to change time limits on prosecution for hiding a corpse.
3rd District Representative Ron Tusler testified at the Wisconsin Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, explaining Assembly Bill 422.
Currently, under state law, if a body is hidden for more than six years, prosecutors cannot charge a person who hides the body.
Rep. Tusler says if the law is changed, it would make the six-year statute start when the body is found, not when it’s first reported missing.
The Harrison Republican says the bill comes from the 1983 Calumet County case of John Andrews, who ran over and killed Starkie Swenson and hid his body at High Cliff State Park because they were part of a love triangle.
“For nine years, John Andrews evaded justice partially because no one could find Starkie Swenson’s body,” he stated. “In 1994, he (Andrews) was charged with homicide.”
But because there wasn’t a body, Andrews entered a plea for homicide by negligent use of a vehicle and served two years in prison.
Rep. Tusler says the reason the deal was accepted was partially because Swenson’s body was not found at the time.
“In 2021, Starkie Swenson’s body was found in the picnic area at High Cliff State Park, just five miles from my house,” he explained. “Someone saw a bone sticking out of the ground and alerted authorities and they figured out that it wasn’t an animal bone, it was a human bone. And one thing led to another.”
Calumet County District Attorney Nathan Haberman tried to charge Andrews with hiding a corpse, but the case was dismissed because of the six-year statute.
Rep. Tusler finishes saying that while it doesn’t fix what happened to Starkie Swenson, it can be stopped from happening in the future.
The bill has not had a vote in the Wisconsin Assembly or Senate.
