The final suspect in a deadly bank robbery in rural northwestern Wisconsin was taken into custody Sunday afternoon in Rhinelander. Law enforcement had been searching for 20 year old Robert McCallie of Kennan since Friday. Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. the Sawyer County Dispatch Center received a report of a hold up alarm at the Dairyland State Bank in Exeland. Deputies from the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department and officers with the Birchwood Police Department were dispatched to the scene.
An officer from the Birchwood Police Department spotted the suspect vehicle and began pursuing it. Two men fled from the vehicle in the Deer Lake area of Southern Sawyer County. The Birchwood officer chased the suspects on foot and took one of them, 19 year-old Steven Ray Willard, into custody. Around the same time Rusk County Sheriff’s Department received a call from Jessica Kirch advising that her boyfriend called her and told her that he loves her and that he was being chased by the cops. Kirch advised that she could hear sirens in the back ground. It was then reported to Rusk County authorities that a possible suspect vehicle was southbound heading into Rusk County.
Officers from the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, and Wisconsin DNR responded to the area and eventually located the suspect vehicle. When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, a pursuit took place. During the pursuit, the driver of the suspect vehicle reportedly fired shots at the officers in pursuit. After a pursuit of about 10 miles, the vehicle ultimately stopped after being involved in a collision with two Rusk County Sheriff’s cars near Bruce. At the scene shots were fired and a suspect, 50 year-old Rudolph P. Frenzer of Ingram, was shot and killed. One deputy sustained minor injuries. McCallie was arrested at a residence in Rhinelander when his get away vehicle, a stolen 2001 Ford F 150, was located.
WLDY/WJBL
