Fond du Lac police have made an arrest in a 32-year-old murder case. Fifty-three year old Thomas Niesen of Ashwaubenon faces pending charges for the death of Kathleen Leichtman in July of 1976. Leichtman was a 19 year-old go-go dancer for the strip club the Other Place. Her body was discovered in the area of Rolling Meadows Drive and Trowbridge Drive on July 15th of that year. She had been stabbed and her throat was slashed. Police Major Kevin Lemke says Niesen became a suspect last fall after the processing of some evidence from the case.
Police Chief Tony Barthuly says solving the case has been a team effort, and will provide the young woman's family and the investigators who worked on it over the years some closure. "Retired chiefs of police and deputy police and commanders, they thought this was going to be the one that got away on them," says Barthuly. "As times goes on, you'll see how the case was solved, and I think you'll be quite impressed by the work that our investigators have done on this case."
Lemke says officers picked up Niesen this past week and formal charges will be brought within days. There are no other persons of interest in the case.
