After 33-years, the family of a Milwaukee woman finds justice in a Fond du Lac County courtroom.
A six-man, six-woman jury on Thursday morning returned a guilty verdict on a First Degree Murder charge against 53-year-old Thomas Niesen. Niesen was accused of killing of Kathleen Leicthman. The 19-year-old woman was chased into a cornfield and killed in July of 1976.
DNA evidence from a sexual encounter between Niesen and Leicthman is what led to his arrest. Niesen had to submit a sample after a child abuse conviction in Brown County last year.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Dan Kaminsky says Niesen was under the influence and clearly not thinking when he made the decision to kill Leicthman in the early morning hours of July 15th, 1976.
Niesen faces life in prison, the maximum penalty for the charge at the time the 19-year-old go-go dancer was killed. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
AUDIO: Fond du Lac County DA Dan Kaminsky (MP3 :09)
KFIZ’s Bob Nelson contributed this report.
