Gene Kusche May Have Personally Known the Zipperers

Gene Kusche died on February 4, 2007, the day before Steven Avery's trial began.

Kusche was Chief Deputy Sheriff under Kocourek. Kusche, along with Vogel and Kocourek, helped knowingly frame Steven Avery, allowing a serial rapist, Gregory Allen, to go free. An innocent man spent 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Kusche was such a coward and monster that he could not even accept the reality when even the victim did. It was really Kusche who screwed up by telling the assistant DA about the phone call to Colborn. Colborn took the call in 1995 from the city of Manitowoc Police Department about Allen being the real culprit.

Did Gene Kusche know the Zipperers personally through Sue Shimek-Kusche-Bruns?

Sue Shimek-Kusche-Bruns's maiden name is Shimek. She had some sort of relationship with Gene Kusche. Diana Shimek says she is Jason Zipperer's aunt. Therefore, Sue Shimek is likely to be directly related to Diana's husband, if Diana acquired her surname through marriage.

Kusche may have personally known the Zipperers and may have even had a familial relationship with them. The Zipperers would have had to be involved in the frame up if it were to succeed. This theory explains why the Zipperers would go along with it. Kusche just told them he would take care of it and make their problem disappear. This was a really huge favor for the Zipperers. You just don't do that for people you don't know.

Was Gene Kusche The One Who Started It All?

By The Inspiring Dad
January 31, 2016

Here is a new theory that really hasn’t been talked about and it’s from Redditor /u/ Escvelocity, and they think Gene Kusche was the one who started it all (the covering up by the cops).

To get you caught up, here is a theory that the Zipperers are the guilty party in the murder of Teresa Halbach. So, this theory from /u/ Escvelocity goes further into detail and explains how Gene Kushe could be connected with this whole thing.

I have a very strong theory that should be followed up on with someone with more tools to investigate.

It follows the Zipperer theory; that the Zipperers were Teresa Halbach's last stop and that George Zipperer may have shot her. Motive for framing Steven for the murder would be strong enough, just based on the civil lawsuit Steven had against the county and Sheriff’s department.

However, there may be an additional reason why they would want to frame Steven for the murder, and why they would have no problem covering for the Zipperers, if George did shoot her, and pinning it on Steven Avery & Brenden Dassey.

After Diana Shimek publicly stated that she was Jason Zipperer's aunt and she knew Jason didn’t have anything to do with the murder, but she felt the grandfather George Zipperer did, I started to do a little digging. I started digging because, while searching for information about Gene Kusche’s son for an unrelated matter, the last name Shimek came up frequently with my searches as in the following webpage. http://www.whitepages.com/name/Darrick-Kusche-Bruns/Manitowoc-WI/6kjxrpp[1]

So, I then looked into Susan/Sue Kusche-Shimek-Bruns and found this record and it shows Gene Kusche and Sue S Shimek in the same household in 2002. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KBZ7-WQ2[2] Here it list the members of that household.  https://homemetry.com/Manitowoc+WI/10TH+ST/2001[3]

I then researched Bruns. I found Scholastica (Sally) Bruns’ Obituary. Nice information in there. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/htrnews/obituary.aspx?pid=170350761[4] A couple of Vogels are her brothers-in-law, it list Edwin Bruns as her son and Edwin's wife Sue Bruns.

Pretty positive Darrick Bruns is Darrick Kusche and is Gene’s son and he now goes by Bruns.

Why? I have a hunch that the Richard Vogel listed in her obituary might be Denis R. Vogel. Pretty sure Denis’ middle name is Richard. I could be wrong though. However, what struck me was that Edwin G Bruns is listed as Sue’s husband and Darrick is a grandchild.

So, I looked up Edwin G (Jerry) Bruns. Found out he lived in Manitowoc then moved to Florida. http://www.spokeo.com/Edwin-Bruns/Florida/Dunnellon/p730310251[5] I also found an Obituary for him. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/htrnews/obituary.aspx?pid=174391558[6]

The picture displayed for his obituary looks like a young Gene Kusche. See comparisons here. http://imgur.com/yGgIf0f [7] You would only need to acquire a yearbook or some other picture of Gene as a young man to verify. There are some strong similarities between the pictures however. Such as the bottom lip crease, chin, eyes and eyebrows.

My theory is that Gene Kusche got the ball rolling framing Steven and Dassey, because George Zipperer shot her thinking she was trespassing. The Zipperers called Gene Kusche, because they knew him personally. Gene Kusche then contacted Lenk and Colburn, then it was all downhill from there.

However, Steven retained excellent attorneys and threw a wrench into things by pushing the framing defense. Eugene Kusche panicked and went into hiding assuming the name of Edwin Bruns and moved to Florida, while everyone assumed he died of a heart attack February 4th 2007, shortly before Steven’s trial. Edwin died in March 2015.

Gene Kusche may have started the scheme to frame Steven and may have still been alive until 2015 

by Escvelocity

January 21, 2016

Edit to add: I think the latter part of my theory (about Gene going into hiding) has been debunked with this picture http://imgur.com/a/3g68k of a Eugene Kusche, who is most likely the same Eugene.

The picture in his obituary is Edwin's '62 yearbook picture, so that would indicate that Edwin Bruns is not Eugene Kusche.

Edwin Bruns in the 62' Lincoln yearbook: click me

Eugene Kusche in his yearbook at St.Joseph's click me

[–] stheory123

What else do we know about Zipperer? This is a small town. Everyone is somebody's co-worker or brother-uncle, I'm sorry but it's rather true. People are so connected. Who knew Mr. Z and can tell us about him? Had he done anything crazy in the past? Did he do weird things in public? Was he on medication? Did he have a criminal record? Had police been called to the house for disturbances before? Was he a hunter? How good was his shot? Was he paranoid? Any domestic violence? Same for the 18 yr old. Mrs. Z seem forthright, but might be intimidated by him and not want to offer more. If I was defense counsel for SA or BD I would have sent a PI to interview them all, but they do not have to speak to one. I strongly suspect Strang and Buting tried that.

[–] Escvelocity 

I've quit adding to this thread because I have found out something that could actually put someone in danger. Just gonna say this: Zellner taking this case might be a sham or it is definitely in the bag and Steven and Brendan will definitely be free.

[–] stheory123

If you are afraid someone might be in danger, you maybe want to delete the original comment. I work in the field of criminal law. You may want to show one of your professors what you found and how/if you should proceed. Just an idea.

[–] Escvelocity

I've been considering Deleting. I don't think what I have here is enough for anyone to make the connection I have come across. If I am right, Zellner is fully aware. I do not think there is any reason for me to proceed. If it is a sham, there is not a thing anyone can do about it. I'm leaning towards not a sham, however.

[–] Escvelocity 

She is on it, she has the information as far as I know. Her firm confirmed they received my email.

[–] Escvelocity

I sent Zellner personal email about it..and also messaged her through FB. I do hope she gets it. I'm hoping that someone who actually does work with her does read Reddit. (crosses fingers). Someone with more investigative skills should look into this. 

Comments at Reddit:

Interesting theory. This doesn't necessarily disprove it, but Edwin G Bruns and Eugene L Kusche have different addresses in Manitowoc. Gene Kusche's home is now owned solely by Sue S Shimek-Kusche. Edwin's is solely owned by Darrick G Bruns. I also found that Sue was Gene Kusche's personal rep for his estate, but oddly it wasn't filed with probate until February of 2013. Six years after his death. Odd. Darrick was the personal rep for Edwin, and it was filed four months after his death. 

After researching I found out that Darrick Bruns and Eugene Kusche shared the same address.

Where did you find that Darrick now owns the Green Street address?

Manitowoc County land records. http://www.co.manitowoc.wi.us/taxquery/name.asp 

I think it's more likely that she married Jeff Bruns first (brother of Edwin "Jerry") and Gene second. Her son Darrick took Gene's last name until Gene died, then he went back to using his original name. 

It's looking more and more like the cops planted every piece of evidence in the case and coerced many witnesses to try to support their theory. Of course Brendan was the most severe...and listening to their first questioning with Brendan (in the car), they are seemingly gathering as much info as possible rather than interrogating him. So they would know what strings to pull and what theory to go for. It was a stunner to hear that there was enough tissue left on one of those burned bone fragments to provide DNA.

[–] MsMinxster

Darrik Kusche/Shimek/Brun/etc... is only 32/33 years old. Interestingly, at the time of Teresa's that would have made him 22 years old--close to the same age as Jason Z (who was around 18). Since they were cousins (seemingly through his mother's Shimek family), could Darrik have been at the Zipperers that day? That's the only reason I can think that Eugene and family would've involved themselves so deeply in all this (I mean besides framing SA) or why Darrick would've changed his own name so many times. The guy has like 6 aliases. I'm not sold that he was in witness protection because his last names are all pretty easy to unravel.

[–] Can_I_Read 

Pretty positive Darrick Bruns is Darrick Kusche and is Gene's Son and he now goes by Bruns.

There was some mention awhile back about the possibility of Darrick Bruns being the one in charge of the surveillance of Gregory Allen way back in the 1985 case. The theory was that he failed in his surveillance and Gene Kusche may have been trying to cover up for that failure.

Anyways, it's all rumors at this point.

[–] DJSupastarSarah 

Just finished catching up on this post. I find it fascinating. Even if nothing pans out it was a great read. I was the original poster who shared Diana's statements she made to me about her nephew and the screenshots of her talking about George. Glad that something came of my post even after Reddit removed it from public view. Good job, keep up the research!

[–] JProps

You know what is SUPER weird. It would appear that Susan Shimek filed a probate case with the court in 2013 yet his death was in 2007. Usually when someone dies these things are filed at the time of their death not 6 years later.

[–] Escvelocity

No reason why Kusche would not be in on it. This information just makes the Zipperer theory stronger. It would explain the reason to cover for the Zipperers. I was told that after the 1985 case, a lot of people involved changed their last names to their wives maiden name.

An obit for Eugene Kusch was posted here: http://www.vva.org/veteran/1007/taps.html It only says, "Eugene L. Kusche, 61, died February 4 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. Army with a tour of duty in Vietnam from 1965-66 assigned to the Third Radio Research Unit of the A.S.A. in Saigon. Kusche was a Life Member of Vietnam Veterans of America Manitowoc Chapter 731."

The 2012 Manitowoc phone book lists Jerry Bruns as living in Manitowoc with his mother. He died in a nursing home last March, a year after his mom passed away. His mother's obit indicates Jerry lives in Manitowoc and his wife lives in FL. Your sleuthing is impressive...I'll try to find some additional info that may either confirm or disprove your theory. It is confusing to say the least.

It just says that Sue is her daughter-in-law, not that she's married to Jerry. She could have been married to Jeff who died before his mom.

ETA: according to what I can find on Ancestry, Jeff was married to someone who's last name was Burish, and Edwin was married to Janelle Marie Beck until 1983 and then married Sue Sandra Mueller in 1984. He and Sue had Darrick.

[–] MsMinxster 

Found this on Edwin Bruns obit. page: "Life was great growing up on Green Street with Jerry, Gina, Al, and my brother Rick. RIP Jerry, you were a good friend." (left off man's name for privacy) from Manitowoc, WI. South 10th Street which is listed quite often as Eugene Kusche's address is less than 2 blocks from Green Street. Also, check out Edwin Bruns wedding pic here:

http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/htrnews/edwin-bruns-condolences/174391558?cid=full

then compare the wife to this pic:

http://classreport.org/main/selectprofilemain.asp?dname=/usa/wi/manitowoc/lhs/&clid=85608&cl=1965&hs=LHS&clr1=red&clr2=red&clr3=lightgrey&stcnt=768&loc=&item=2876003

Unless Edwin and Eugene were married to the same woman right out of high school, I believe Edwin/Eugene K are one in the same.

Also, what caught my attention (and caused me to noodle over this for hours!) was that Kusche had no obit back in 2007. A self-important blow hard like Eugene would never go out with such a whimper.

[–] DominantChord

I can't see a wedding pic. I just get to the Guest Book by following your first link. (And the only pic there is the picture of Edwin which looks like his 62 high school pic that /u/Sweatysweatman dug up in this thread:
https://imgur.com/ZapTsY6

[–] MsMinxster

The guest book should show up on the left. Midway down on the right, there's a header "Records for Brun in WI" and under that is a tiny wedding photo. That could be a generic pic, but it caught my eye because the man looks like Edwin and what could be a young Kusche.

Jim Zipperer signed the guestbook:

March 17, 2015
For 50 years a friend. Rest in peace Jerry, and thanks for all the laughs, good times and stories we shared! You will be missed.
~Jim Zipperer,
Maribel, Wisconsin

http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/htrnews/edwin-bruns-condolences/174391558#sthash.SiNStnYQ.8KGIV0kA.dpuf

[–] JuanTescrue 

O.....M.......G..... This is reeeeeeally turning out to be more than I expected. I theorized in my presentation about possible (although at the time fairly implausible) collusion between numerous organizations and departments to make this happen. I said that the only way that this "cops did it" theory makes sense is if there was such collusion. I theorized this because of them not letting Jodi out for her meeting that day. But why would State level WI DOJ officer Faassbender be colluding with Wiegert to form Dassey's story in order to bury this case and FINALLY give it a MOTIVE? Now it seems like that may be the situation. The only thing I had to go on is what I call "The Clincher" for most cases... which is.... MOTIVE. The only way that any suspect in this case makes sense as a possible murderer is the motive. But the law suit motive theory I had only works if there is multi level multi department collusion. This is more and more becoming the case. The scary thing is... I know law enforcement is a tight knit group but this is "family" tight. Not to mention, this gives that crazy "sex club" theory a tad "length of bone" wouldn't you say? What was it that Sherlock Holmes said? "if you eliminate the IMPOSSIBLE, the whatever remains, no matter how IMPLAUSIBLE... MUST be the truth. We need to find these answers. I guarantee you, if those answers are that which I think they are we are on the path to solving this case.

[–] thehoch1

Hey I just called Manitowoc Maritime Museum and asked if anyone had ever heard of Edwin (Jerry) Bruns and they said NO. I then asked if they could go ask anyone who had worked there a long time, and I could hear her ask two old guys in the background, they had no idea who that is......She gave me the extension to a number at the museum to someone, and to call back on Monday, she said they would know for sure.....But if Edwin was a founding member, wouldn't his name be known? I find that strange

[–] grandoraldisseminato

Found this today researching

Chairperson Don Markwardt presented Certificates of Appreciation to Eugene Kusche for 24 years of service to the Sheriff’s Department

http://www.co.manitowoc.wi.us/Upload/3/2003-2004%20proceedings.pdf

[–] MsMinxster 

Sue divorced Jerry in 1990:

http://www.wicourtcasesearch.com/CourtCase/Case/1990FA000007/Manitowoc

Gene married a woman named Judith Zimmerlee in 1982, so maybe after both their marriages ended (Gene and Sue) they got together. All the overlap of marriages in this town are hard to keep up with!

[–] Escvelocity 

I found that she divorced Dale Allen Mueller in 1983.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VK9P-6P6
Married Jerry in 1984. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VJ1Q-VC5

And that both Gene and Sue have unclaimed money. lol

http://wisconsin-lost-money.org/data/PO+BOX+200+1817+WASHINGTON+ST+TWO+RIVERS%2C+WI%2C+54241/KUSCHE+SUE/52801592.html

[–] JuanTescrue

Wow. I think I just caught ANOTHER fly ball that whizzed by most folks. I guess due to my background I noticed something that may be a link to Motive (remember, I said in my videos that Motive is usually the "Clincher" for most crimes). At the bottom of pg. 1 of this PDF, there is a line that says "The [state] legislators expressed concerns on the economy in Manitowoc County and the need for manufacturing and answered supervisors’ questions." This was dated April 15 (tax day) 2003 (it also comments on the the struggle on pg. 32). The BIENNIAL WI State Budget had just been passed. All the money was already on its way to its destinations so the county couldn’t petition the state to recoup any sort of lost money.

Avery was freed on 9-11-03. He then decided to sue for $36 million dollars, a county that according to this document hold the "concerns" of state, not local, but STATE legislators about the "economy" of Manitowoc County. If Manitowoc County is already in economic trouble then this law suit would be absolutely devastating. Remember, in the Doyle administration they ended up with a $3.2 billion budget deficit which would mean that there would be no possibility for state help to plug the county's fiscal hole, not to mention this was after the national economic slump we all went through after 9/11. On top of that, the invasion of Iraq had commenced mere day’s before this. So, if in 2003, right after the state legislators passed the BIENNIAL state budget, they wouldn't address this budget again until 2005. Well, guess what was already underway by then?... That's right... Avery's lawsuit. And you know how generous people are with anything when you're accused of some wrongdoing. If you’re even ACCUSED of some wrongdoing people avoid you like the plague and the damages usually last far beyond that. 

So if Manitowoc County is already facing economic hardship and the deficit ridden state budget can’t help, they now have this cloud looming over their heads. You add this lawsuit to it and what do you think the County Board would do in this situation? Raise taxes that the state already raised by $1 billion (as stated right here on pg. 1 in this document) so that the county board officials can lose their next election? (I’ll point out that former Sheriff Kocourek who was about to be deposed before Teresa Halbach’s disappearance was currently on this county board) orrrrrrrrr.... State and local officials say "sorry cops... we normally have your back but you clowns did this to yourself so... the only way we're going to be able to avoid declaring bankruptcy is if we not only fire you guilty cops, we pull your pension, hold you personally liable for this and possibly put every cop in the county's pension on the line in order to cover this bill."

 So you tell me... who had the motive? Who was covering who's ace? I'm so glad that grandoraldisseminato posted this. This to me says without a doubt, these cops were backed up into a corner and they did what any animal backed into a corner would do. They did the only thing necessary to keep them from losing everything. Their jobs, house, savings, pension, reputations, freedom (cops in Federal Ace Bang Prison?) and I guarantee that their families would have been out on the street. Tell me... Look at your family right now and say that if your actions were going to have them on skid row you wouldn't consider it if you were law enforcement. The profession who best knows every trick in the trade, not only how to commit a murder and get away with it but frame the person who is about to make your life hell in the process and have connections in law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, the media and the public sympathy to be able to pull it off. This is it. This tells me everything I need to know. Bingo. You Manitowoc Fecktards. I have you now. Yer goin' down. 

Avery lawsuit video: Sketch artist Gene Kusche 
By John Ferak, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin 
March 8, 2016

Gene Kusche was the police sketch artist sketch whose work played a major role in the wrongful conviction of Steven Avery. 

Name: Gene Kusche, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office, 1979-2003; retired after 24 years in department. 

Biography: Born January 1946; died of heart attack on Feb. 4, 2007 — the day before Steven Avery's murder trial began in Chilton. 

Career highlights: Military policeman in Saigon; Kenosha Police Department, Wisconsin Attorney General's Office division of criminal investigation; Columbia County District Attorney's office; Wisconsin consumer protection division; 1979-1986, held title of chief deputy sheriff or Manitowoc County; chief investigator of detectives from 1989 until retirement in May 2003. 

Key moments from Kusche's sworn testimony of Oct. 26, 2005:

Kusche was so proud of his sketch in the 1985 rape case against Steven Avery that it was later framed as a wall decoration for his sheriff's office.

1. "It was my first drawing, my first composite. It was the only one I ever did that was used in a court case and I thought it would make a interesting display in my office."
   
   He was summoned to a local hospital on the night of July 29, 1985 where he met with attack victim Penny Beerntsen and drew the composite. 

•  "I says, 'Is this the man who assaulted you? She said yes. I think I went to the door and said 'We're done.'I think the sheriff was out there."

Fellow deputies suspected Kusche had used a recent jail booking mug of Steven Avery to draw his sketch, which was identical to Avery's mug shot.

• "I'm telling you I didn't see it and I didn't know if it was there before I started the sketch, either. I don't know when it arrived."

In spite of Avery's exoneration in 2003, Kusche refused to testify in 2005 that Avery was innocent of the rape, despite DNA evidence proving Gregory Allen was the real rapist.

• "My sketch is what the victim had me draw as what she saw. My sketch looks more like Steven Avery than it does Gregory Allen."

Kusche testified in 2005 how he had misgivings about the strength of District Attorney Denis Vogel's 1985 rape case against Avery, however.

• "I think sometime during the trial or shortly thereafter I had made a comment to Denis that I didn't think there was enough to convict Steve Avery and his response to me was, 'Well, you haven't seen all the evidence or the trial.' And you're right, I haven't ... Eyewitnesses are not always the best evidence. I'm a physical evidence kind of officer, and I like to see good, solid physical evidence and I didn't see that in this case."

Kusche spoke at least once with Sgt. Andrew Colborn about an earlier phone call that, if, followed up, would have prompted Avery's exoneration from prison around 1995, not in 2003.

"I recall Colborn saying something to me and I might have said something to him on the side. I don't know if Tom Kocourek's name came into it.... But I did not receive that information in 1995, 1996. At that time I was chief investigator and would have done something. I would have. And then I made this comment, I probably asked him was (Lt. James) Lenk, who was my replacement, aware of this? ... He didn't take command of that bureau until 2003."

Related:

Zipperer family member makes 1/25/16 mind blowing statement.