Anyone know why Dep. Riemer would be at Teresa's house in the middle of the night- at 2:30AM on 11/7? Then went straight to ASY, then HQ at 4:00AM. Did he bring something to ASY from her house? No mention of going to her house on his 11/7 report. @ZellnerLaw @TManitowoc @MJeebs pic.twitter.com/AXl3o1DrZg— VERITAS (@VVeritatum) November 17, 2019
By Habundai
I filed a FIOA request to receive copies of 3 reports analyzing the Pap smear from Teresa Halbach, created by the Wisconsin DOJ between 11/16/05 and 11/21/05.
They took the time and effort to come up with a lot of excuses basically “to decline to release the requested records to you at this time”.
My problem with this is, if these documents are as innocent as they claim them to be then why make so much effort to keep them close? There is just no logic/common sense in this if those documents only would corroborate what they have presented in court. So why all the secrecy for the public (and most of the defense) to not get access to those documents and THAT is the reason why I make a big deal out of the fact that they continue to keep these documents closed. That is why it has me believe those documents have something in it that they DONT WANT US (the defense) to know. But I would love to be proven wrong; therefore, I requested the reports because nobody would like to find out this whole case to be a charade!
Timeline in the Halbach and Rudy Cases Beginning the Day Before Bones Were Purportedly Found on the Avery property:
NANCY GRACE TRANSCRIPT (Aired December 16, 2005 - 20:00 ET)
Wisconsin police announce the discovery of the remains of 21-year- old Christine Rudy, six months pregnant, who was reported missing by her husband on November 14.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, breaking news. She went missing at six months pregnant in 2 degrees below zero. The search for Christine Rudy, last seen on a Wisconsin roadside, ends tonight.
GRACE: But first tonight, breaking news. Remains found in Wisconsin now confirmed to be the missing 21-year-old mother-to-be Christine Rudy. Let's go straight out to WCCN radio reporter Paul Knoff. Paul, distressing news. Bring us up to date.
PAUL KNOFF, WCCN RADIO: Unfortunately, Nancy, that's correct, very distressing news, but I have to say, not entirely unexpected. The sheriff's department this afternoon released information that analysts from the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab have, in fact, positively identified human remains found in the search for Christine Rudy as those of Christine Rudy, the 21-year-old from Thorp. They have also mentioned now that they have switched this from a missing persons investigation to a criminal investigation, and interviews are ongoing. The last interview in this case took place just this morning -- or today, I should say.
GRACE: Paul Knoff, where did you say the remains were positively identified as Christine Rudy's?
KNOFF: The analysts at the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab in Madison actually positively ID'd the remains.
GRACE: Let's go to Chief Deputy Jim Backus. He is the deputy with the Clark County sheriff's office. Deputy Sheriff, thank you for being with us. This is a grim evening for us, as well as for you. We've tried desperately to try to find clues to find the missing girl. Where did you find the remains?
DEPUTY CHIEF JIM BACKUS, CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, we're unable to indicate exactly where we found them. They were located during one of the numerous searches that we did conduct, and as indicated last week, they were sent down to the Department of Justice crime lab in Madison.
GRACE: What day did you find the remains?
BACKUS: It was earlier in the week, last week. Again, I cannot indicate exactly on the date.
GRACE: Deputy, why can't you tell us where you found the remains? Shouldn't that be public record?
BACKUS: Well, it will be. And as of this time, we have numerous people that need to be interviewed yet, and we don't want to get a whole lot of information out there until our interviews are complete.
GRACE: OK. I get it. Jim Moret, chief correspondent with "Inside Edition," as of yet, they still have not named someone as an official murder suspect in this case.
I'm assuming, Sheriff Backus, you do think this is foul play, correct?
BACKUS: Yes, at this time, we do feel that foul play may have been a part of Christine's death.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY FOLEY: I first saw Christine on the morning of November 11, when she was in church during the mass. She said that her husband had dumped her off in the woods and that she had to walk up hills and down hills and across ravines and that it was very cold and very dark by the time she arrived in Fennimore.
The last I had talked to her, she was supposed to meet him at the (INAUDIBLE) at 3:30 and he was going to pick her up there, that he did not want to meet her at church. So the last I talked to her was probably about 20 minutes to 4:00. And before she left, I told her -- I said, I think you look like you need a hug. So I gave her a hug and told her to have a safe trip. And I also said I would send one of my guardian angels with her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to you, Chief Deputy Jim Backus -- again, special guest joining us tonight. Breaking news tonight out of Wisconsin. We have all been following the case of missing 21-year-old mother-to-be Christine Rudy, the entire state on a search for this girl. One of the biggest manhunts in Wisconsin history ends tonight with the positive identification of female remains of this girl, Christine Rudy, six months pregnant.
Chief Deputy Backus, could you tell me why you think this is homicide?
BACKUS: Well, again, there's a lot of information that we know that we cannot release yet at this time. You know, I guess just all the circumstances and information that we've been gathering are, you know, tending us to believe that there may be foul play. And again, there are numerous interviews that we have to complete yet before this is...
GRACE: Can you tell us at least was she found in a wooded area?
BACKUS: Again, I can't expand a whole lot on that.
GRACE: OK. I understand you don't want to jeopardize the investigation. Chief Deputy Backus, where are her remains now?
BACKUS: At this time, they're still in Madison, you know, as we just recently received the confirmation on the identification.
GRACE: Are they at the medical examiner's or a crime lab?
BACKUS: I believe that they are at the crime lab yet.
GRACE: At the crime lab. So they haven't even gone to the medical examiner, correct?
BACKUS: Correct.
GRACE: So as of this juncture, all we have is a positive identification -- be it through dental records, DNA, I don't know -- but we don't have a cause of death, right?
BACKUS: Correct.
GRACE: You're not going to get that until you send her to the medical examiner, correct?
BACKUS: Yes.
GRACE: What medical examiner will her remains go to?
BACKUS: I honestly don't know which one they will be sent to yet.
GRACE: Well, how many do you have?
BACKUS: I'm not sure which one the crime labs works with down in Madison.
GRACE: Well, what's the closest medical examiner?
BACKUS: I believe there is one right in Madison that the Department of Justice works with.
GRACE: So is there any reason that's not the medical examiner she'll go to?
BACKUS: I would not believe so. It probably would be.
GRACE: Chief Deputy Backus is with us out of Clark County sheriff's office. He's giving us a little information tonight, everyone, but not enough to jeopardize this investigation.
To Jim Moret, chief correspondent, "Inside Edition." It's very clear -- Jim, you're a practicing lawyer, as well as chief correspondent with "Inside. Clearly, they haven't named an official suspect, so what this is all about, they're going to question various people that may be involved and see if any of them are placing themselves near where her body was found, or if their story is off in any way as it relates to the location of this body.
MORET: Well, we're also being told, Nancy, that there are persons -- that's plural -- persons of interest that have been detained and are being questioned.
And as far as the cause of death, all we're being told, even though there's no specific cause of death -- that we've been told, and as you've just heard, the medical examiner doesn't yet have the body. What we are being told, however, is the cause of death is not a natural cause of death. That's all we're being told so far.
GRACE: I want to go out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler, high-profile criminal profiler. Just now, when I heard the lady from the local church, something struck in me that she said. Remember, the husband told everybody -- this isn't a big secret -- husband not a suspect -- said they got into a spat and she wanted to get out of the car, so he let her get out of the car to cool down and then went back to get her.
OK. Right there, that's not what the church lady said. The church lady, who has no reason to lie in this case that I can think of -- she doesn't have any skin in the game -- says he dumped her off. He dumped her off, not that she asked to get out of the car, but he dumped her out in the woods, Pat.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Nancy, we know one thing. We know he's a liar. We know, too, that he's not a good husband. This poor girl didn't need a hug, she needed a divorce really quick. But unfortunately, she stayed with him. And at this point, his best defense is that he is a lousy husband because unless they find some physical...
GRACE: Whoa! The Scott Peterson defense!
BROWN: Yes!~ Because if they don't find physical evidence linking Christine's body to either him, his car, or something to do with him or to somebody else, if there's no physical evidence, what have you got? A bad husband that said, Get out of my car.
GRACE: I want to go back to Chief Deputy Jim Backus. Chief, could you just tell us whether she was actually wearing the same clothes her husband described she was wearing last?
BACKUS: Again, that information I cannot disclose as of this time.
GRACE: Chief, Chief, Chief, you already told us what she was last wearing. Is that what she was wearing when her body was found?
BACKUS: I can't disclose that information.
GRACE: Chief! gee, I wish I could have had you on some of my homicide cases. Man, you're like a vault! You're a vault! I can't get anything out of you.
To Paul Knoff, reporter with WCCN radio. Paul, what was Christine Rudy allegedly wearing at the time she was let out of the car by her husband? What did he say?
KNOFF: I think, if recall correctly, he described it as a light gray jacket, which happens to match the description of what the mayor of Fennimore told me she was wearing at the church in Fennimore the day before she went missing.
GRACE: Could you repeat again? She had on what?
KNOFF: Just a list -- I believe a gray jacket is how it was described.
GRACE: A gray -- like a hoody?
KNOFF: If I remember correctly. And I want to -- I do remember that it was a light jacket. I think it was gray.
GRACE: Gray jacket, tennis shoes, and jeans, as I recall it.
KNOFF: Correct.
GRACE: OK. Chief Backus, so you're not confirming or denying that's what she had on at the time?
BACKUS: Correct. I cannot indicate exactly what...
GRACE: OK. I understand. And actually, I applaud you for not jeopardizing the investigation.
Everyone, breaking news tonight. Here on the show, we've been following this case from the beginning, early November, when Christine Rudy went missing, hoping for the best, six months pregnant, in low, low temperatures there in Wisconsin.
Paul Knoff, WCCN radio, I want to get this straight. The day that she was seen at the church, she also had on a gray jacket, tennis shoes and jeans? Paul? OK, I've lost Paul Knoff.
Let me go to Pat Lalama, investigative reporter, who has also been covering the case. Pat, what do you make of the fact that the day she was let off at the church, which was several days before her husband says she went missing, OK, she was wearing the same exact thing, according to the church lady, that she was wearing when her husband said he dropped her off? What it says to me is she may have been killed that day.
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Very possible. I mean, look, the first time, maybe it was a dry run, and maybe he made the whole other story up. I mean, there's so much mystery in this. There was also allegedly another female in the car the first time around. This is a man who also told police, I understand, that he had to get her out of the car before things got physical.
Now, what kind of a guy is this? This is also a guy who's in trouble now for weapons charges, for methamphetamine pipes in his car. You know, I think the whole thing, the whole second story, could be a complete, complete fabrication. We don't know. As your other guest said, he seems to be a compulsive liar, as well as maybe a sociopath.
GRACE: I want to go straight back to WCCN reporter Paul Knoff. I think I've got him back. Elizabeth (ph), do I have Paul? Hey, Paul, welcome back. Paul, didn't the church people say she had on that gray jacket, the jeans, the tennis shoes the day she was at the church?
KNOFF: Yes, that's correct. Basically, as I remember the reporting of the description that the mayor of Fennimore told me that, you know, she was wearing at that time pretty much matched what the sheriff's department said she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
GRACE: You know, Pat Brown, remember how this came up in the Laci Peterson case? It all came up regarding her clothing, that Peterson said she had on black pants and a white top when she went walking the dog, but yet, when her remains washed up in the San Francisco Bay, she had on the same clothes that she had on the last time she was seen with Peterson, the day before? Are you seeing the same thing happening here?
BROWN: It's really hard to say. You know, sometimes people just don't have that many clothes, so they tend to wear the same things, put the same jacket on. I really wouldn't want to jump to a conclusion on that one particularly. But it'll be interesting to see what time did elapse and what other stories we're going to hear from that particular point in time to this particular point in time.
GRACE: We'll be back with all of our guests in just one moment.
Breaking news tonight. I'm sorry to report that remains found recently in Wisconsin are, in fact, those of this girl. Intense manhunt for 21-year-old Christine Rudy, six months pregnant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RICHARD ROGERS, FENNIMORE, WISCONSIN: I saw a young lady seated in the front pew, and she was bent over, had her head in her hands. It was obvious that she had been crying. But I went up and set up for mass. When I was leaving church, I bent down and asked her if there was something I could do and if, you know, she needed some help. And she said, No, my husband is going to pick me up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He's talking about Christine Rudy, a 21-year-old woman that went missing in Wisconsin. Tonight, breaking news. The remains found in a wooded area in Wisconsin are those of Christine Rudy.
Very quickly, I want to go out to Caryn Stark, psychologist. Caryn, when you're hearing this story that the husband gave -- who I would like to repeat is not an official suspect in this case -- it sounds like he's blurring together several days and several stories to me.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: It does, Nancy. It also stands like he's not someone who's a very reputable character. So we really have to take a look at who this man is. And I know that he's not a suspect, but it does seem quite suspicious.
GRACE: A couple of days before she went missing for good -- remember, she went missing on November 12, she was not reported missing until November 14. Right there should raise a red flag to local prosecutors as to what the delay was. She first was found in a church with her head in her hands a few days before she went missing. One of the parishioners that spoke to her was the local mayor. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - Christine walked to the church in Fennimore on November 11, 2005, and Shaun picked her up around 4:00 p.m. that day)
ROGERS: What is the problem? Is there something wrong? And then she told me that she had gotten out of the car. She was with her husband. She got out of the car. She said, I took this hat and I took a small flashlight. And she said, I got out of the car and I started to walk. And she said, I walked, you know, up and down the hills. She said one time she almost walked off a cliff. And then she walked into town and found her way to church.
She indicated that she was very cold. And at that time, the early morning, I think the weather was around 20 to 22, so -- and she had on a very light coat, and she did have a light, real loose-fitting kind of stocking cap, but no gloves. And then she had the regular tennis shoes on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To veteran defense attorney Renee Rockwell. Renee, don't tell me you would launch, the "He's just a bad husband, he's not a killer" defense.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I wouldn't, Nancy. But obviously, this mayor sounds like that he got a story from her that she got out of the car willingly and voluntarily. Nancy, but why would he let her out somewhere where she has to walk eight miles to get to safety?
We've got another situation where -- I know he's not a suspect, but he's in jail now. He does have a $1,000 bond on some charges. He's got a probation hold. I can bet you anything he's not getting out of jail and not for a while, not with a probation hold. They'll be able to leave him in there long enough for him to continue to talk and to continue to paint himself in a corner. Somebody needs to get a hold of him and tell him to shut up and quick talking.
GRACE: Well, Lisa Wayne, why not have him cooperate with the police fully, offer to take a polygraph and get to the bottom of the mystery of what happened to his wife, Lisa?
LISA WAYNE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, he may have cooperated with the police. He may have told them everything that he knows. I mean, we have a lot of missing pieces here, and the fact that we don't know the cause of death, we don't have any scientific or forensic evidence at this point -- he's the usual suspect. He's the easiest one to point the finger at and say, yes, he's a lousy husband.
But we don't know what was going on in that marriage. We don't know if she was intentionally avoiding him and not wanting to be found by him. We just don't know. And frankly, nobody at the church felt concerned enough about her to call the police and tell anybody that something was awry in terms of the marriage. So we need to...
GRACE: Well, it's my understanding, Lisa, they asked did she need help.
WAYNE: Right.
GRACE: And she told them no.
WAYNE: Right. But you know, again there was nothing so amiss...
GRACE: That's true.
WAYNE: ... that they said, I'm going to call the police because this sounds bad.
BACKUS: It's my understanding that the conversation began about Christine wanting to spend more time with Shaun. As they progressed on the road, it sounded like the argument became a little more heated. Our understanding it was just verbal. And he had pulled over to the side of the road, and Christine had gotten out. So we don't know if, you know, she volunteered to get out on her own. Did he physically remove her? We don't have any evidence to prove either way what happened. Again, Shaun's story is that it sounded as if she volunteered to get out of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I just hate it. The remains found there in Wisconsin have been positively identified as 21-year-old Christine Rudy, an expectant mother six months along. That was a shot of Chief Deputy Jim Backus, Clark County sheriff.
Chief, very quickly, could you tell us, was the body intact?
BACKUS: Again, that information I can't release.
GRACE: Was the body clothed?
BACKUS: That information I cannot release also.
GRACE: Sheriff, what led you to the remains?
BACKUS: Just the searches that the investigators were involved in.
GRACE: What condition were the remains in?
BACKUS: That information I can't release due to the ongoing...
GRACE: OK. Can you tell me this. Have you executed any further search warrants since you found the remains?
BACKUS: At this time, there have been no other search warrants executed.
GRACE: Have you found any potential evidence?
BACKUS: Throughout the investigation, yes, we have.
GRACE: What?
BACKUS: That I cannot release.
GRACE: Everybody, Chief Deputy Jim Backus, Clark County sheriff, is not being difficult tonight, he's protecting the investigation. His search has been exhaustive, trying to find 21-year-old Christine Rudy. Sheriff, thank you.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/16/ng.01.html
Witness led authorities to Cobban Bridge
The Chippewa Herald
January 21, 2006
Clark County Sheriff Louis Rosandich reads a statement naming Shaun Rudy as a suspect in the violent death of his pregnant wife, Christine Rudy during a news conference in Neillsville Thursday.
NEILLSVILLE - Shaun Rudy is believed to have traveled to familiar territory when he went searching in November for a place to dump the dismembered body of his 21-year-old wife Christine.
His final destination is suspected to have been in Chippewa County at the Cobban Bridge, located about five miles north of Jim Falls along Highway 178.
"I think Mr. Rudy knew the area because of a child relationship,” Chippewa County District Attorney Jon Theisen said.
Chippewa County court records indicate that Rudy, who has lived in both the Cadott and Stanley areas in the past five years, has a child who lives in the county. Those records show that Rudy was named in child support and placement proceedings with orders docketed in December 2003.
"It would not surprise me if the child lived in the Cornell area,” Theisen said.
Clark County Chief Deputy Jim Backus said Thursday that part of Christine Rudy's remains were found in a wooded area about six miles south of Thorp in Clark County. Backus said Christine, who resided in Thorp, was killed Nov. 12 and that her body was taken to a rural Thorp residence where it was dismembered.
Christine Rudy was allegedly murdered two days before Shaun Rudy reported Christine missing to the Thorp Police Department.
"On November 14th Thorp took a missing persons complaint and on the 19th we learned of a possible homicide,” Backus said.
When asked what transpired in the five days after Christine was reported missing, Backus said, "The information we received had to be verified.”
Shaun Rudy has made no admissions of any role in his wife's death, Rosandich said. However, he said Rudy is the prime suspect in the killing.
Rosandich said investigators believe after Christine Rudy's body was dismembered it was dropped off a bridge over the Chippewa River near Jim Falls. That bridge is believed to be the Cobban Bridge.
"We really don't know if the body is in there or not. It is based on information we have received,” Rosandich said Thursday.
Twice in the past month, Chippewa County Sheriff's Department authorities have searched the Chippewa River with the aid of the Chippewa Fire District's dive team and the Cornell and Anson fire departments.
If the remains are found, Shaun Rudy would likely face charges in Chippewa County, one of which could be hiding a corpse, a Class G felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Theisen said.
Authorities were drawn to Chippewa County after receiving information from a female witness who claims to have been with Rudy at the time the body was disposed, Theisen said.
The woman said the body was disposed at the site of a bridge near Cornell. Her description of the bridge resembled that of the Cobban Bridge, Theisen said (see image below).
He said the witness stated that Christine Rudy's remains were put in a container and placed in a mini-van. The container was held upright in the van by lodging hay bales around it.
"After driving the witness to various locations in and around Cornell, investigators did in fact locate an area on the Cobban Bridge which the witness indicated might be the place (the body was dumped),” Theisen said.
"At that location, investigators located an inordinate amount of hay at a location on the bridge which corroborates the witness' story.”
But no evidence has ever been found suggesting that Christine Rudy's remains were disposed of in the Chippewa River.
WEAU News, March 29, 2006: The search appears to be over for the body of Christine Rudy. Chippewa County's Sheriff's Department investigators say they think they found the murdered pregnant woman's body and bone fragments Tuesday afternoon near the Cobban Bridge. Sheriff's deputies in Chippewa County got a report from a neighbor that there were human bone fragments out near the bridge. Investigators responded Tuesday, and pulled the body just before one in the afternoon. "We searched the area of the Cobban Bridge north," said Sheriff Doug Ellis, "where the body was discovered at the bottom of the embankment." This probably puts an end to the search for Christine Rudy's body, which started in the area in January. That's when a witness told police she saw Christine's husband, Shaun Rudy, shoot Christine, chop up her body and throw it over the bridge. Sheriff Ellis says his deputies will be back out at the Cobban Bridge once more after the ice melts, and it's safe for investigators to follow up. He says he's not sure about the condition of the body right now. The remains are on their way to the Madison State Crime Lab for an autopsy and DNA testing, as the District Attorney in Chippewa County considers filing charges. Shawn Rudy already faces first degree murder charges. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Authorities believe they’ve found the remains of Christine Rudy
The Chippewa Herald
March 29, 2006
The four-month search for the body of murder victim Christine Rudy may have ended Tuesday.
A corpse and bone fragments believed to be those of Rudy were recovered Tuesday from along the bank of the Chippewa River near the Cobban Bridge.
Chippewa County Sheriff Doug Ellis said the corpse was located at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Falling short of saying the remains were definitely Rudy’s, Ellis did say the recovery of the body parts was related to a homicide investigation in Clark County.
On March 3 Christine Rudy’s husband, Shaun Rudy, 23, of Thorp, was charged in Clark County with murdering his pregnant wife, dismembering her body, and dumping the remains in the Chippewa River north of Jim Falls.
Shaun Rudy faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and mutilating a corpse, according to court records.
The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department and area dive and rescue teams had been searching the icy waters of the Chippewa River at the Cobban Bridge on various occasions since November, but never found a body.
Clark County officials were steered towards the bridge during their investigation into Christine Rudy’s death after a witness claimed to have been with Shaun Rudy at the time of an alleged murder and saw him dump the woman’s body from the bridge.
On Tuesday the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department received information from a resident living near the Cobban Bridge that there were some suspicious items near the Chippewa River. Soon afterwards the department launched an extensive search that resulted in recovery of the corpse and body parts, Ellis said. Those items are being transported to the state crime lab in Madison for an autopsy and DNA testing that could verify the identity of the remains as Christine Rudy, Ellis said.
If the remains are determined to be Christine Rudy’s, local charges could be filed against Shaun Rudy. Chippewa County District Attorney John Theisen has said since the beginning of the local investigation that Shaun Rudy would likely face charges in Chippewa County, one of which could be hiding a corpse.
Today Theisen echoed those comments.
“I need a positive identification of the body before I can move on,” Theisen said this morning.
But if results show the body is Christine Rudy’s and the disposal of the remains can be connected to Shaun Rudy, Theisen could file corpse abuse charges, he said.
“I would expect to get a referral from the Sheriff’s Department that he be charged with illegally disposing of a corpse,” he said.
On November 11, 2005, along a gravelly road near Roger Creek Avenue, and about 200 yards off County Highway MM in Stanley, WI (images above), Shaun Rudy shot his pregnant wife Christine in the head with a shotgun [Shaun's girlfriend, Heather Teschler, claims to have witnessed the shooting (saying there was nothing left of half her face) and subsequent dismemberment and disposal of the body].
Law enforcement said that Christine Rudy was murdered on November 12th, two days before Shaun Rudy reported her missing to the Thorp Police Department, but she was killed on November 11th.
Investigators had been searching in the general area near the Cobban Bridge since November 2005.
In late March 2006, an unnamed resident near the Cobban Bridge reported seeing suspicious stuff.
"In ice by the riverbank," investigators find a torso, with intact fetus inside, and lower jaw fragment with teeth. They pulled the body from the riverbank and send it to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab (apparently, the county coroner or medical examiner was not called to the scene and the body was not sent to the county coroner for examination). "The victim's head, arms and lower legs were missing."
The torso has a tattoo and they say it means it's almost certainly her, but they're waiting on DNA.
A dentist states the latter is consistent with Christine Rudy's records.
The finding "in ice by the riverbank" of a torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth: The Clark County Clerk stated there is nothing on file for the March 28, 2006, discovery (or for the testing) of Christine Rudy's torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth. The clerk stated she thinks this may be because the case didn’t go to trial (the file is 380 pages in size), but this may be because the torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth purportedly were found in Chippewa County (the cranial pieces and brain tissue were found in Clark County).
This case was still headed for trial in Clark County in April 2006. On the advice of Attorney David Grace, Rudy allowed the Court to enter “not guilty” pleas on his behalf in April 2006.
On May 25, 2006, Shaun Rudy gave up his right to a trial by jury and pleaded no contest to all charges in a Clark County court. He was sentenced on August 3, 2006 to life in prison with no chance for parole.
On August 9, 2006, right after Shaun Rudy's sentence to life in prison, and 10 months after Christine's murder, the FBI was sent bone fragments, allegedly from the burn pile at Shaun Rudy's mother's home, as well as buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's parents for comparison to see if the bones match Christine Rudy or her fetus. They said they were requesting further testing of the burn pit bone fragments in Christine's case to identify another potential victim.
NOTE: This information, along with other images and private notes, was sent to Steven Avery's lawyers via email in May 2019 (they did not acknowledge that the email was received). This was painstaking research, so please acknowledge and credit this non-monetized blog as the source if any of the original content is copied and distributed.
- 11.7.05, Early morning arson at Lake Park Pub, CASO deputy Rick Riemer assigned as evidence technician (16:53 mark in CASO dispatch transmissions 12:18am -11:38pm on 11.7.05); he's processing evidence from both the Avery case and the arson case in the evidence processing room
- 11.7.05, Sifting begins on burn barrels taken into custody in Teresa Halbach's case
- 11.8.05, Investigators first discover what they identify as charred human bone fragments at the Avery property
- 11.8.05, Investigators collect what they identify as charred bone evidence from Avery's fire pit
- 11.10.05, DCI agent with arson bureau, Rodney Pevytoe, re-examines debris purportedly from Avery's fire pit (7923, brown tarp) and collects two pieces of apparent charred material, golf-ball in size (property tag 7926, which cannot be the tibia bone, exhibit 385)
- 11.10.05, Riemer takes 7926, "two pieces of charred material," from Pevytoe at CASO and hand delivers it to DCI agent James Holmes at ASY (none of the evidence collected on 11/10/05 was turned into CASO; rather, it was turned over to Holmes, the only person with the keys to the burn barrel evidence)
- 11.11.05, On a gravel road in a forested area near Stanley, WI, Christine Rudy's husband shoots her in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun (LE reported she was killed on 11.12.05, but she was killed on 11.11.05, and LE found cranial bones and tissue on 11.15.05 or earlier)
- 11.12.05, In the morning, DCI arson team, headed by Pevytoe, collects burned garbage from the deer camp
- 11.12.05, Holmes brings 7964 ("one shaft fragment with cut marks," per Eisenberg) to ASY and gives it to Riemer (from where this bone was recovered is not documented by CASO, but LE found bones in various locations in the gravel pit on 11.9.05)
- 11.12.05, Riemer gives 7964 to CASO evidence technician Jeremy Hawkins
- 11.12.05, Hawkins moves 7964 from outside secure storage to evidence locker
- 11.15.05, Eisenberg receives 7926, human tissue and bone fragments (represented to be the "two pieces of charred material" recovered by Pevytoe during a re-examination of the brown tarp, 7923, "contents of Avery's burn pit")
- 11.16.05, Communication regarding Q1 and Q2 and KS1 is received by FBI (ESC Search Slip)
- 11.17.05, Dr Michael Stier receives skull bones to autopsy in Teresa Halbach's case (these would be the cranial pieces and brain tissue from Christine Rudy's murder scene, which have yet to be taken into CASO's custody at this point)
- 11.17.05, Fassbender makes first attempt to get Teresa Halbach's pap smear (sometime between 11.17.05 and 11.23.05, Tom Fassbender picks up Teresa Halbach's pap smear slides and turns them over to Holmes for "his subsequent transfer to the WSCL")
- 11.18.05, Leslie Eisenberg sends 7926, human tissue and bone fragments, to the FBI for mtDNA testing
- 11.23.05, 9:31 a.m., DCI agent James C Holmes submits item EF, pap smear, to WSCL (this would be the item that Culhane purportedly used to determine the bones belonged to Teresa (where is the chain of custody that shows this pap smear indeed is Teresa's?)
- 11.23.05, FBI lab report to Mullen says Q1, "charred remains," purportedly from 7926, was received (Cover of Communications was dated 11.16.05, one day after Eisenberg received 7926; this would be the FBI testing Christine Rudy's remains in Teresa Halbach's case)
- 11.29.05, News media reports that investigators found cranial pieces and brain tissue at the scene of Christine Rudy's shooting (LE reported she was killed on 11.12.05, but she was killed on 11.11.05, and they found these specimens on 11.15.05 or earlier)
- 12.2.05, About one week after Fassbender picked up Halbach's pap smear slides for Holmes' ultimate delivery to the WSCL, investigators from Clark County deliver Christine Rudy's pap smear slides directly to the WSCL
- 12.5.05, Three days after the WSCL received Christine Rudy's pap smear slides, Culhane issues her report (exhibit 312) on a partial match for item BZ and a full DNA profile developed from the pap smear slide (EF) purportedly from Teresa Halbach (somebody gave her an item, BZ, to test but it isn't clear from whom she received it and from where it came - we know that Holmes had in his possession, at the same time, tags 7926 and 7964, so he must be the person who gave Culhane Christine Rudy's pap smear, and cranial pieces and brain tissue from Christine's murder scene, to test in Teresa Halbach's case, if Culhane actually tested anything at all)
- 12.8.05, Dr Stier assessed some bones in Christine Rudy's case that Eisenberg had previously identified as human skull; Stier did not confirm them as human or as containing any radiopaque lead under x-ray, though he did say they were 'most consistent' with human skull
- 1.2.06, Clark County Sheriff's deputy Kerry Kirn reports on collecting buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's mother and father and says he delivered them to WSCL
- 1.17.06, FBI reports to Mullen (Milwaukee Squad 6) on mtDNA analysis for Q1 (purportedly 7926) and says "Teresa Halbach cannot be excluded as the source of the Q1 charred remains"
- 1.17.06, Hawkins releases 7964 to Barry Irman, Dane County Coroner's Office
- 1.17.06, Leslie Eisenberg receives 7964 (she eventually photographs it, exhibit 385), "one shaft fragment with cut marks," purportedly from burn barrel #2 (item 643)
- 1.17.06-11.2.06, Missing Chain of Custody for 7964 (10 months)
- 2.3.06, Clark County Sheriff's Office contacts FBI Milwaukee Division at LaCrosse, requesting assistance in Christine Rudy's case
- 2.8.06, Clark County Sheriff's Office collects DNA from Christine Rudy's mother and father for the National Missing Persons DNA Database "because the entire skeleton hasn't been found," according to law enforcement (DNA already had been collected from her parents on 1.2.06)
- 2.15.06, Holmes submits two items, EJ and EK, cranial pieces, to WSCL in Teresa Halbach's case (how did Holmes get these cranial pieces, and when and from whom?)
- 2.18.06, Wiegert, along with Dedering, visits Karen Halbach and asks her if she has any deceased female relatives (she told them that her mother was alive but ill and that she doesn't have any nieces that are deceased and she had only one aunt who was deceased)
- 2.20.06, FBI agent Mullen transfers buccal swab identified as Karen Halbach's to CASO evidence technician Hawkins (there is no documentation for the collection of swabs because the buccal swab sent to the FBI lab for Halbach's case came from Christine Rudy's mother on 1.2.06, and the buccal swab taken into custody at CASO came from Rudy's mother on 2.8.06)
- 3.29.06, Law enforcement reports to the media that they have found Christine Rudy's torso and partial lower jaw fragment with teeth (her head, arms and lower legs were missing)
- 5.23.06, Dr Stier performs "autopsy" on cranial pieces in Teresa Halbach's case (why didn't he do an "autopsy" on 11.17.05; and where is the chain of custody for these specimens 11.17.05-5.23.06?)
- 5.25.06, Cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598, are first taken into CASO's custody and placed into secure storage (WSCL to Wendy Baldwin to Jeremy Hawkins, CASO evidence technician)
- 7.18.06, Communication about buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's parents having been acquired from Clark County Sheriff's Office (owning office listed as Milwaukee): agent in FBI's Milwaukee Division at LaCrosse took possession of buccal swab from Clark County Sheriff's Office and was notified that Eisenberg has bone fragments for submission in the case but she would not obtain possession of the bone fragments until 8.9.06
- 8.9.06, FBI's Milwaukee Division at LaCrosse receives (from Clark County Sheriff's Office) suspected fetal long bone fragment with four unattached slivers of immature human bone plus suspected adult fragment in Christine Rudy's case; requests that FBI DNA Analysis Unit II perform mtDNA and nuclear DNA analysis of these bone fragments "from the burn pile" in Christine Rudy's case, which they obtained from Eisenberg (FBI field office also received buccal swabs from Rudy's parents)
- 8.10.06, Communication from FBI's Milwaukee Division at LaCrosse to FBI DNA Analysis Unit II
- 8.10.06, FBI's Milwaukee Division at LaCrosse gives bone fragments from a burn pile in Christine Rudy's case to Eisenberg
- 9.7.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit I receives buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's parents and bone fragments in her case
- 9.12.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit II receives (from Milwaukee Division, Squad 6, LaCrosse Resident Agency) lower leg section with tissue from Christine Rudy's body [this is the FBI unit that performed the testing for Teresa Halbach's case - why would Christine Rudy's lower leg section with tissue be sent to both Unit I (9.13.06) and Unit II?]
- 9.13.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit I receives lower leg section from Christine Rudy's body (when and where did they find this lower leg section of her body?); apparently tissue from one of Christine's lower legs was tested by the FBI rather than the cranial pieces and brain tissue discovered at her murder scene since these specimens were given to the FBI for testing in Teresa Halbach's case
- 10.02.06, First entry into CASO custody from FBI agent Gerald Mullen for property tags 7839 (two paper bags containing unidentified material and buccal swab standards from Karen Halbach) and 7940 (two extracted tubes)
- 10.23.06, Hawkins releases cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598, to Wiegert for transfer to Dane County Medical Examiner
- 10.24.06, Wiegert transfers cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598, to Dane County Medical Examiner's Office (Eisenberg's reports indicate that she did not receive 9597 & 9598 on this day or any other day)
- 10.24.06, Eisenberg receives 8314, "contents of barrel #2 (item #643), "possible calcined human bone fragment - not diagnostic" (tag 8314, identified as contents of Janda barrel #2)
- 10.30.06, Bones submitted to FBI lab for testing in Christine Rudy's case (this would be the cranial pieces that Wiegert received on 10.24.06 for Teresa Halbach's case, but which he never transferred to Eisenberg at the Dane County morgue)
- 11.1.06, FBI lab contacts FBI's Milkwaukee Division at LaCrosse to inform them that, because the bones are so badly burnt, they hadn't had much success in obtaining DNA from bones submitted in Christine Rudy's case
- 11.2.06, Communications sent to FBI DNA Analysis Unit II: cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598
- 11.7.06, Communications sent to FBI DNA Analysis Unit II: Eisenberg sends 7964 to FBI (10 months after receiving it)
- 11.8.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit II receives Q11 and Q12, cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598
- 11.14.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit II receives Q13 and Q14-Q14.8, bone fragments, tag 7964, sent by Eisenberg on 11.7.06
- 12.4.06, FBI DNA Analysis Unit II receives two tubes for K2 (buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's mother) from Milwaukee field office (FBI DNA Analysis Unit II is the unit that performed the testing in Teresa Halbach's case)
- 12.dd.06, FBI seems to have returned 7964 to Dane County Coroner's Office
- 12.11.06, John Vysoky, Dane County Coroner's Office, returns cranial pieces, 9597 & 9598, to CASO's custody
- 12.11.06-1.31.07, Missing Chain of Custody for who took 9597 & 9598 out of custody and when this occurred (Vysoky is on ledger as having returned the items on 12.11.06, yet Gerald Mullen purportedly returned 9597 & 9598 to CASO's custody six weeks later, on 1.31.07 - where was this item 12.11.06-1.31.07?)
- 12.18.06, Hawkins releases 7964 to Mullen for "FBI testing" AGAIN
- 12.19.06, Communications sent to FBI DNA Analysis Unit II
- 12.21.06, Kratz faxed a FBI report to Strang and Buting on 1.29.07, stating the report was dated 1.12.07, but it was dated 12.21.06; he faxed only the DNA portion, leaving out the actual FTU report [this was the second fax received from the FBI and not the original that Wiegert received, so they were hiding an FBI FTU report of toolmarking cut(s) or gunshot wound(s)]
- 12.27.06, FBI receives Q15-Q45
- 1.23.07, FBI's reports on "Solid-phase Double-antibody Radioimmunoassay Examination" in Christine Rudy's case
- 1.26.07, FBI lab receives possible fetal bone and adult fragment in Christine Rudy's case
- 2.21.07, Hawkins releases 7926 to Wiegert "for safekeeping" (this item has no record of ever having been taken into custody at CASO - it was given to DCI agent Holmes on 11.20.05, and then Wiegert returned it to Hawkins on the same day)
- 2.23.07, Hawkins again releases 7926 to Wiegert, this time "for court" (the day Culhane testifies); and then Wiegert returns it to Hawkins on the same day
- 2.23.07, BZ, represented to be #7926, was refrigerated by Hawkins in CASO custody after it went to court for Culhane's testimony (on CASO report page 211, it's stated that it was sifted from the brown tarp, #7923, at CASO's back garage, but the burn pit evidence is simply a falsified paper trail)
- 3.13.07, FBI Milwaukee Division receives lab result from MicroAnalytica of Miami, Florida, in Rudy's case (report dated 3.7.07): suspected fetal bones from burn pit in Christine Rudy's case appear to be animal in nature, not human; and no result could be reported for the highly-charred suspected adult bone
- 5.30.07, DCI submits more bones in the Christine Rudy case to FBI Squad 6 LaCrosse, "looking for an additional victim"
- 8.21.07, FBI DNA Analysis Unit I reports to FBI Sqaud 6 LaCrossse on Nuclear DNA analysis in Christine Rudy's case: victim's lower leg section matched the buccal swabs of her parents
- 9.4.07, FBI Laboratory in Quantico sends communication to FBI field office, Milwaukee Division in LaCrosse, requesting closing of Rudy file and advises that "lower leg section would be returned to [redacted] since he submitted the evidence"
- 1.7.08, FBI sends communication to FBI's Milwaukee Division's Evidence Control Technician regarding return of lower leg section in Christine Rudy's case
- 1.14.08, FBI returns to Clark County Sheriff's Office the buccal swabs and bone fragments in Christine Rudy's case
- 5.13.08, FBI completes final testing (nuclear DNA) and closes Christine Rudy's case
- 9.20.11, Hawkins releases 7964 to Wiegert
- 4.1.19, Wisconsin Attorney General claims that Culhane's item BZ is a thigh bone: this is a problem, because saying it's a thigh bone (rather than a lower leg bone) is in direct contrast to trial testimony, where it was claimed that BZ was a tibia bone (also described as a shin bone and a lower long bone)
"That we aren't just looking at some bone in abstract. We're not just looking at some DNA profile. It's Teresa Halbach's shinbone. All right. It's Karen Halbach's daughter's tibia. And attached to Teresa Halbach's tibia was some tissue. Now, despite Mr. Avery -- The evidence will show, that despite Mr. Avery's effort to completely obliterate all these bones, by burning, to incinerate these bones completely, this bone survived. This tissue that was on the bone survived, which allowed a DNA match, which allowed the State of Wisconsin analyst, guess who, Sherry Culhane."
NANCY GRACE TRANSCRIPT (Aired December 16, 2005 - 20:00 ET)
Wisconsin police announce the discovery of the remains of 21-year- old Christine Rudy, six months pregnant, who was reported missing by her husband on November 14.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, breaking news. She went missing at six months pregnant in 2 degrees below zero. The search for Christine Rudy, last seen on a Wisconsin roadside, ends tonight.
GRACE: But first tonight, breaking news. Remains found in Wisconsin now confirmed to be the missing 21-year-old mother-to-be Christine Rudy. Let's go straight out to WCCN radio reporter Paul Knoff. Paul, distressing news. Bring us up to date.
PAUL KNOFF, WCCN RADIO: Unfortunately, Nancy, that's correct, very distressing news, but I have to say, not entirely unexpected. The sheriff's department this afternoon released information that analysts from the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab have, in fact, positively identified human remains found in the search for Christine Rudy as those of Christine Rudy, the 21-year-old from Thorp. They have also mentioned now that they have switched this from a missing persons investigation to a criminal investigation, and interviews are ongoing. The last interview in this case took place just this morning -- or today, I should say.
GRACE: Paul Knoff, where did you say the remains were positively identified as Christine Rudy's?
KNOFF: The analysts at the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab in Madison actually positively ID'd the remains.
GRACE: Let's go to Chief Deputy Jim Backus. He is the deputy with the Clark County sheriff's office. Deputy Sheriff, thank you for being with us. This is a grim evening for us, as well as for you. We've tried desperately to try to find clues to find the missing girl. Where did you find the remains?
DEPUTY CHIEF JIM BACKUS, CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, we're unable to indicate exactly where we found them. They were located during one of the numerous searches that we did conduct, and as indicated last week, they were sent down to the Department of Justice crime lab in Madison.
GRACE: What day did you find the remains?
BACKUS: It was earlier in the week, last week. Again, I cannot indicate exactly on the date.
GRACE: Deputy, why can't you tell us where you found the remains? Shouldn't that be public record?
BACKUS: Well, it will be. And as of this time, we have numerous people that need to be interviewed yet, and we don't want to get a whole lot of information out there until our interviews are complete.
GRACE: OK. I get it. Jim Moret, chief correspondent with "Inside Edition," as of yet, they still have not named someone as an official murder suspect in this case.
I'm assuming, Sheriff Backus, you do think this is foul play, correct?
BACKUS: Yes, at this time, we do feel that foul play may have been a part of Christine's death.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY FOLEY: I first saw Christine on the morning of November 11, when she was in church during the mass. She said that her husband had dumped her off in the woods and that she had to walk up hills and down hills and across ravines and that it was very cold and very dark by the time she arrived in Fennimore.
The last I had talked to her, she was supposed to meet him at the (INAUDIBLE) at 3:30 and he was going to pick her up there, that he did not want to meet her at church. So the last I talked to her was probably about 20 minutes to 4:00. And before she left, I told her -- I said, I think you look like you need a hug. So I gave her a hug and told her to have a safe trip. And I also said I would send one of my guardian angels with her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to you, Chief Deputy Jim Backus -- again, special guest joining us tonight. Breaking news tonight out of Wisconsin. We have all been following the case of missing 21-year-old mother-to-be Christine Rudy, the entire state on a search for this girl. One of the biggest manhunts in Wisconsin history ends tonight with the positive identification of female remains of this girl, Christine Rudy, six months pregnant.
Chief Deputy Backus, could you tell me why you think this is homicide?
BACKUS: Well, again, there's a lot of information that we know that we cannot release yet at this time. You know, I guess just all the circumstances and information that we've been gathering are, you know, tending us to believe that there may be foul play. And again, there are numerous interviews that we have to complete yet before this is...
GRACE: Can you tell us at least was she found in a wooded area?
BACKUS: Again, I can't expand a whole lot on that.
GRACE: OK. I understand you don't want to jeopardize the investigation. Chief Deputy Backus, where are her remains now?
BACKUS: At this time, they're still in Madison, you know, as we just recently received the confirmation on the identification.
GRACE: Are they at the medical examiner's or a crime lab?
BACKUS: I believe that they are at the crime lab yet.
GRACE: At the crime lab. So they haven't even gone to the medical examiner, correct?
BACKUS: Correct.
GRACE: So as of this juncture, all we have is a positive identification -- be it through dental records, DNA, I don't know -- but we don't have a cause of death, right?
BACKUS: Correct.
GRACE: You're not going to get that until you send her to the medical examiner, correct?
BACKUS: Yes.
GRACE: What medical examiner will her remains go to?
BACKUS: I honestly don't know which one they will be sent to yet.
GRACE: Well, how many do you have?
BACKUS: I'm not sure which one the crime labs works with down in Madison.
GRACE: Well, what's the closest medical examiner?
BACKUS: I believe there is one right in Madison that the Department of Justice works with.
GRACE: So is there any reason that's not the medical examiner she'll go to?
BACKUS: I would not believe so. It probably would be.
GRACE: Chief Deputy Backus is with us out of Clark County sheriff's office. He's giving us a little information tonight, everyone, but not enough to jeopardize this investigation.
To Jim Moret, chief correspondent, "Inside Edition." It's very clear -- Jim, you're a practicing lawyer, as well as chief correspondent with "Inside. Clearly, they haven't named an official suspect, so what this is all about, they're going to question various people that may be involved and see if any of them are placing themselves near where her body was found, or if their story is off in any way as it relates to the location of this body.
MORET: Well, we're also being told, Nancy, that there are persons -- that's plural -- persons of interest that have been detained and are being questioned.
And as far as the cause of death, all we're being told, even though there's no specific cause of death -- that we've been told, and as you've just heard, the medical examiner doesn't yet have the body. What we are being told, however, is the cause of death is not a natural cause of death. That's all we're being told so far.
GRACE: I want to go out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler, high-profile criminal profiler. Just now, when I heard the lady from the local church, something struck in me that she said. Remember, the husband told everybody -- this isn't a big secret -- husband not a suspect -- said they got into a spat and she wanted to get out of the car, so he let her get out of the car to cool down and then went back to get her.
OK. Right there, that's not what the church lady said. The church lady, who has no reason to lie in this case that I can think of -- she doesn't have any skin in the game -- says he dumped her off. He dumped her off, not that she asked to get out of the car, but he dumped her out in the woods, Pat.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Nancy, we know one thing. We know he's a liar. We know, too, that he's not a good husband. This poor girl didn't need a hug, she needed a divorce really quick. But unfortunately, she stayed with him. And at this point, his best defense is that he is a lousy husband because unless they find some physical...
GRACE: Whoa! The Scott Peterson defense!
BROWN: Yes!~ Because if they don't find physical evidence linking Christine's body to either him, his car, or something to do with him or to somebody else, if there's no physical evidence, what have you got? A bad husband that said, Get out of my car.
GRACE: I want to go back to Chief Deputy Jim Backus. Chief, could you just tell us whether she was actually wearing the same clothes her husband described she was wearing last?
BACKUS: Again, that information I cannot disclose as of this time.
GRACE: Chief, Chief, Chief, you already told us what she was last wearing. Is that what she was wearing when her body was found?
BACKUS: I can't disclose that information.
GRACE: Chief! gee, I wish I could have had you on some of my homicide cases. Man, you're like a vault! You're a vault! I can't get anything out of you.
To Paul Knoff, reporter with WCCN radio. Paul, what was Christine Rudy allegedly wearing at the time she was let out of the car by her husband? What did he say?
KNOFF: I think, if recall correctly, he described it as a light gray jacket, which happens to match the description of what the mayor of Fennimore told me she was wearing at the church in Fennimore the day before she went missing.
GRACE: Could you repeat again? She had on what?
KNOFF: Just a list -- I believe a gray jacket is how it was described.
GRACE: A gray -- like a hoody?
KNOFF: If I remember correctly. And I want to -- I do remember that it was a light jacket. I think it was gray.
GRACE: Gray jacket, tennis shoes, and jeans, as I recall it.
KNOFF: Correct.
GRACE: OK. Chief Backus, so you're not confirming or denying that's what she had on at the time?
BACKUS: Correct. I cannot indicate exactly what...
GRACE: OK. I understand. And actually, I applaud you for not jeopardizing the investigation.
Everyone, breaking news tonight. Here on the show, we've been following this case from the beginning, early November, when Christine Rudy went missing, hoping for the best, six months pregnant, in low, low temperatures there in Wisconsin.
Paul Knoff, WCCN radio, I want to get this straight. The day that she was seen at the church, she also had on a gray jacket, tennis shoes and jeans? Paul? OK, I've lost Paul Knoff.
Let me go to Pat Lalama, investigative reporter, who has also been covering the case. Pat, what do you make of the fact that the day she was let off at the church, which was several days before her husband says she went missing, OK, she was wearing the same exact thing, according to the church lady, that she was wearing when her husband said he dropped her off? What it says to me is she may have been killed that day.
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Very possible. I mean, look, the first time, maybe it was a dry run, and maybe he made the whole other story up. I mean, there's so much mystery in this. There was also allegedly another female in the car the first time around. This is a man who also told police, I understand, that he had to get her out of the car before things got physical.
Now, what kind of a guy is this? This is also a guy who's in trouble now for weapons charges, for methamphetamine pipes in his car. You know, I think the whole thing, the whole second story, could be a complete, complete fabrication. We don't know. As your other guest said, he seems to be a compulsive liar, as well as maybe a sociopath.
GRACE: I want to go straight back to WCCN reporter Paul Knoff. I think I've got him back. Elizabeth (ph), do I have Paul? Hey, Paul, welcome back. Paul, didn't the church people say she had on that gray jacket, the jeans, the tennis shoes the day she was at the church?
KNOFF: Yes, that's correct. Basically, as I remember the reporting of the description that the mayor of Fennimore told me that, you know, she was wearing at that time pretty much matched what the sheriff's department said she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
GRACE: You know, Pat Brown, remember how this came up in the Laci Peterson case? It all came up regarding her clothing, that Peterson said she had on black pants and a white top when she went walking the dog, but yet, when her remains washed up in the San Francisco Bay, she had on the same clothes that she had on the last time she was seen with Peterson, the day before? Are you seeing the same thing happening here?
BROWN: It's really hard to say. You know, sometimes people just don't have that many clothes, so they tend to wear the same things, put the same jacket on. I really wouldn't want to jump to a conclusion on that one particularly. But it'll be interesting to see what time did elapse and what other stories we're going to hear from that particular point in time to this particular point in time.
GRACE: We'll be back with all of our guests in just one moment.
Breaking news tonight. I'm sorry to report that remains found recently in Wisconsin are, in fact, those of this girl. Intense manhunt for 21-year-old Christine Rudy, six months pregnant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RICHARD ROGERS, FENNIMORE, WISCONSIN: I saw a young lady seated in the front pew, and she was bent over, had her head in her hands. It was obvious that she had been crying. But I went up and set up for mass. When I was leaving church, I bent down and asked her if there was something I could do and if, you know, she needed some help. And she said, No, my husband is going to pick me up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He's talking about Christine Rudy, a 21-year-old woman that went missing in Wisconsin. Tonight, breaking news. The remains found in a wooded area in Wisconsin are those of Christine Rudy.
Very quickly, I want to go out to Caryn Stark, psychologist. Caryn, when you're hearing this story that the husband gave -- who I would like to repeat is not an official suspect in this case -- it sounds like he's blurring together several days and several stories to me.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: It does, Nancy. It also stands like he's not someone who's a very reputable character. So we really have to take a look at who this man is. And I know that he's not a suspect, but it does seem quite suspicious.
GRACE: A couple of days before she went missing for good -- remember, she went missing on November 12, she was not reported missing until November 14. Right there should raise a red flag to local prosecutors as to what the delay was. She first was found in a church with her head in her hands a few days before she went missing. One of the parishioners that spoke to her was the local mayor. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - Christine walked to the church in Fennimore on November 11, 2005, and Shaun picked her up around 4:00 p.m. that day)
ROGERS: What is the problem? Is there something wrong? And then she told me that she had gotten out of the car. She was with her husband. She got out of the car. She said, I took this hat and I took a small flashlight. And she said, I got out of the car and I started to walk. And she said, I walked, you know, up and down the hills. She said one time she almost walked off a cliff. And then she walked into town and found her way to church.
She indicated that she was very cold. And at that time, the early morning, I think the weather was around 20 to 22, so -- and she had on a very light coat, and she did have a light, real loose-fitting kind of stocking cap, but no gloves. And then she had the regular tennis shoes on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To veteran defense attorney Renee Rockwell. Renee, don't tell me you would launch, the "He's just a bad husband, he's not a killer" defense.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I wouldn't, Nancy. But obviously, this mayor sounds like that he got a story from her that she got out of the car willingly and voluntarily. Nancy, but why would he let her out somewhere where she has to walk eight miles to get to safety?
We've got another situation where -- I know he's not a suspect, but he's in jail now. He does have a $1,000 bond on some charges. He's got a probation hold. I can bet you anything he's not getting out of jail and not for a while, not with a probation hold. They'll be able to leave him in there long enough for him to continue to talk and to continue to paint himself in a corner. Somebody needs to get a hold of him and tell him to shut up and quick talking.
GRACE: Well, Lisa Wayne, why not have him cooperate with the police fully, offer to take a polygraph and get to the bottom of the mystery of what happened to his wife, Lisa?
LISA WAYNE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, he may have cooperated with the police. He may have told them everything that he knows. I mean, we have a lot of missing pieces here, and the fact that we don't know the cause of death, we don't have any scientific or forensic evidence at this point -- he's the usual suspect. He's the easiest one to point the finger at and say, yes, he's a lousy husband.
But we don't know what was going on in that marriage. We don't know if she was intentionally avoiding him and not wanting to be found by him. We just don't know. And frankly, nobody at the church felt concerned enough about her to call the police and tell anybody that something was awry in terms of the marriage. So we need to...
GRACE: Well, it's my understanding, Lisa, they asked did she need help.
WAYNE: Right.
GRACE: And she told them no.
WAYNE: Right. But you know, again there was nothing so amiss...
GRACE: That's true.
WAYNE: ... that they said, I'm going to call the police because this sounds bad.
BACKUS: It's my understanding that the conversation began about Christine wanting to spend more time with Shaun. As they progressed on the road, it sounded like the argument became a little more heated. Our understanding it was just verbal. And he had pulled over to the side of the road, and Christine had gotten out. So we don't know if, you know, she volunteered to get out on her own. Did he physically remove her? We don't have any evidence to prove either way what happened. Again, Shaun's story is that it sounded as if she volunteered to get out of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I just hate it. The remains found there in Wisconsin have been positively identified as 21-year-old Christine Rudy, an expectant mother six months along. That was a shot of Chief Deputy Jim Backus, Clark County sheriff.
Chief, very quickly, could you tell us, was the body intact?
BACKUS: Again, that information I can't release.
GRACE: Was the body clothed?
BACKUS: That information I cannot release also.
GRACE: Sheriff, what led you to the remains?
BACKUS: Just the searches that the investigators were involved in.
GRACE: What condition were the remains in?
BACKUS: That information I can't release due to the ongoing...
GRACE: OK. Can you tell me this. Have you executed any further search warrants since you found the remains?
BACKUS: At this time, there have been no other search warrants executed.
GRACE: Have you found any potential evidence?
BACKUS: Throughout the investigation, yes, we have.
GRACE: What?
BACKUS: That I cannot release.
GRACE: Everybody, Chief Deputy Jim Backus, Clark County sheriff, is not being difficult tonight, he's protecting the investigation. His search has been exhaustive, trying to find 21-year-old Christine Rudy. Sheriff, thank you.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/16/ng.01.html
Witness led authorities to Cobban Bridge
The Chippewa Herald
January 21, 2006
Clark County Sheriff Louis Rosandich reads a statement naming Shaun Rudy as a suspect in the violent death of his pregnant wife, Christine Rudy during a news conference in Neillsville Thursday.
NEILLSVILLE - Shaun Rudy is believed to have traveled to familiar territory when he went searching in November for a place to dump the dismembered body of his 21-year-old wife Christine.
His final destination is suspected to have been in Chippewa County at the Cobban Bridge, located about five miles north of Jim Falls along Highway 178.
"I think Mr. Rudy knew the area because of a child relationship,” Chippewa County District Attorney Jon Theisen said.
Chippewa County court records indicate that Rudy, who has lived in both the Cadott and Stanley areas in the past five years, has a child who lives in the county. Those records show that Rudy was named in child support and placement proceedings with orders docketed in December 2003.
"It would not surprise me if the child lived in the Cornell area,” Theisen said.
Clark County Chief Deputy Jim Backus said Thursday that part of Christine Rudy's remains were found in a wooded area about six miles south of Thorp in Clark County. Backus said Christine, who resided in Thorp, was killed Nov. 12 and that her body was taken to a rural Thorp residence where it was dismembered.
Christine Rudy was allegedly murdered two days before Shaun Rudy reported Christine missing to the Thorp Police Department.
"On November 14th Thorp took a missing persons complaint and on the 19th we learned of a possible homicide,” Backus said.
When asked what transpired in the five days after Christine was reported missing, Backus said, "The information we received had to be verified.”
Shaun Rudy has made no admissions of any role in his wife's death, Rosandich said. However, he said Rudy is the prime suspect in the killing.
Rosandich said investigators believe after Christine Rudy's body was dismembered it was dropped off a bridge over the Chippewa River near Jim Falls. That bridge is believed to be the Cobban Bridge.
"We really don't know if the body is in there or not. It is based on information we have received,” Rosandich said Thursday.
Twice in the past month, Chippewa County Sheriff's Department authorities have searched the Chippewa River with the aid of the Chippewa Fire District's dive team and the Cornell and Anson fire departments.
If the remains are found, Shaun Rudy would likely face charges in Chippewa County, one of which could be hiding a corpse, a Class G felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Theisen said.
Authorities were drawn to Chippewa County after receiving information from a female witness who claims to have been with Rudy at the time the body was disposed, Theisen said.
The woman said the body was disposed at the site of a bridge near Cornell. Her description of the bridge resembled that of the Cobban Bridge, Theisen said (see image below).
He said the witness stated that Christine Rudy's remains were put in a container and placed in a mini-van. The container was held upright in the van by lodging hay bales around it.
"After driving the witness to various locations in and around Cornell, investigators did in fact locate an area on the Cobban Bridge which the witness indicated might be the place (the body was dumped),” Theisen said.
"At that location, investigators located an inordinate amount of hay at a location on the bridge which corroborates the witness' story.”
But no evidence has ever been found suggesting that Christine Rudy's remains were disposed of in the Chippewa River.
WEAU News, March 29, 2006: The search appears to be over for the body of Christine Rudy. Chippewa County's Sheriff's Department investigators say they think they found the murdered pregnant woman's body and bone fragments Tuesday afternoon near the Cobban Bridge. Sheriff's deputies in Chippewa County got a report from a neighbor that there were human bone fragments out near the bridge. Investigators responded Tuesday, and pulled the body just before one in the afternoon. "We searched the area of the Cobban Bridge north," said Sheriff Doug Ellis, "where the body was discovered at the bottom of the embankment." This probably puts an end to the search for Christine Rudy's body, which started in the area in January. That's when a witness told police she saw Christine's husband, Shaun Rudy, shoot Christine, chop up her body and throw it over the bridge. Sheriff Ellis says his deputies will be back out at the Cobban Bridge once more after the ice melts, and it's safe for investigators to follow up. He says he's not sure about the condition of the body right now. The remains are on their way to the Madison State Crime Lab for an autopsy and DNA testing, as the District Attorney in Chippewa County considers filing charges. Shawn Rudy already faces first degree murder charges. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Authorities believe they’ve found the remains of Christine Rudy
The Chippewa Herald
March 29, 2006
The four-month search for the body of murder victim Christine Rudy may have ended Tuesday.
A corpse and bone fragments believed to be those of Rudy were recovered Tuesday from along the bank of the Chippewa River near the Cobban Bridge.
Chippewa County Sheriff Doug Ellis said the corpse was located at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Falling short of saying the remains were definitely Rudy’s, Ellis did say the recovery of the body parts was related to a homicide investigation in Clark County.
On March 3 Christine Rudy’s husband, Shaun Rudy, 23, of Thorp, was charged in Clark County with murdering his pregnant wife, dismembering her body, and dumping the remains in the Chippewa River north of Jim Falls.
Shaun Rudy faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and mutilating a corpse, according to court records.
The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department and area dive and rescue teams had been searching the icy waters of the Chippewa River at the Cobban Bridge on various occasions since November, but never found a body.
Clark County officials were steered towards the bridge during their investigation into Christine Rudy’s death after a witness claimed to have been with Shaun Rudy at the time of an alleged murder and saw him dump the woman’s body from the bridge.
On Tuesday the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department received information from a resident living near the Cobban Bridge that there were some suspicious items near the Chippewa River. Soon afterwards the department launched an extensive search that resulted in recovery of the corpse and body parts, Ellis said. Those items are being transported to the state crime lab in Madison for an autopsy and DNA testing that could verify the identity of the remains as Christine Rudy, Ellis said.
If the remains are determined to be Christine Rudy’s, local charges could be filed against Shaun Rudy. Chippewa County District Attorney John Theisen has said since the beginning of the local investigation that Shaun Rudy would likely face charges in Chippewa County, one of which could be hiding a corpse.
Today Theisen echoed those comments.
“I need a positive identification of the body before I can move on,” Theisen said this morning.
But if results show the body is Christine Rudy’s and the disposal of the remains can be connected to Shaun Rudy, Theisen could file corpse abuse charges, he said.
“I would expect to get a referral from the Sheriff’s Department that he be charged with illegally disposing of a corpse,” he said.
On November 11, 2005, along a gravelly road near Roger Creek Avenue, and about 200 yards off County Highway MM in Stanley, WI (images above), Shaun Rudy shot his pregnant wife Christine in the head with a shotgun [Shaun's girlfriend, Heather Teschler, claims to have witnessed the shooting (saying there was nothing left of half her face) and subsequent dismemberment and disposal of the body].
Law enforcement said that Christine Rudy was murdered on November 12th, two days before Shaun Rudy reported her missing to the Thorp Police Department, but she was killed on November 11th.
Investigators had been searching in the general area near the Cobban Bridge since November 2005.
In late March 2006, an unnamed resident near the Cobban Bridge reported seeing suspicious stuff.
"In ice by the riverbank," investigators find a torso, with intact fetus inside, and lower jaw fragment with teeth. They pulled the body from the riverbank and send it to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab (apparently, the county coroner or medical examiner was not called to the scene and the body was not sent to the county coroner for examination). "The victim's head, arms and lower legs were missing."
The torso has a tattoo and they say it means it's almost certainly her, but they're waiting on DNA.
A dentist states the latter is consistent with Christine Rudy's records.
The finding "in ice by the riverbank" of a torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth: The Clark County Clerk stated there is nothing on file for the March 28, 2006, discovery (or for the testing) of Christine Rudy's torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth. The clerk stated she thinks this may be because the case didn’t go to trial (the file is 380 pages in size), but this may be because the torso and lower jaw fragment with teeth purportedly were found in Chippewa County (the cranial pieces and brain tissue were found in Clark County).
This case was still headed for trial in Clark County in April 2006. On the advice of Attorney David Grace, Rudy allowed the Court to enter “not guilty” pleas on his behalf in April 2006.
On May 25, 2006, Shaun Rudy gave up his right to a trial by jury and pleaded no contest to all charges in a Clark County court. He was sentenced on August 3, 2006 to life in prison with no chance for parole.
On August 9, 2006, right after Shaun Rudy's sentence to life in prison, and 10 months after Christine's murder, the FBI was sent bone fragments, allegedly from the burn pile at Shaun Rudy's mother's home, as well as buccal swabs from Christine Rudy's parents for comparison to see if the bones match Christine Rudy or her fetus. They said they were requesting further testing of the burn pit bone fragments in Christine's case to identify another potential victim.
Top of ledger page says Kevin Heimerl gave bag with burned material to MW on 3/1/12 but it was all written by MW. No signature of KevH anywhere. KevH was present at both the Avery and Rudy burn pits. He was with Riemer & Holmes to process the brown tarp. https://t.co/QCoC36krXF— Lick The Knife (@RenyRoha) July 7, 2019
NOTE: This information, along with other images and private notes, was sent to Steven Avery's lawyers via email in May 2019 (they did not acknowledge that the email was received). This was painstaking research, so please acknowledge and credit this non-monetized blog as the source if any of the original content is copied and distributed.
