A rural Portage County man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for killing his girlfriend’s aunt and stabbing her dad last year. Tyler Dahms showed no emotion as he was sentenced Wednesday for killing Karen Dombrowski and stabbing her brother-in-law Ken on their land in the town of New Hope last May. The sentence also covers two burglaries the 20-year-old committed the same weekend.
The stabbing occurred on May 15th of last year, when Dahms returned to the Dombrowski property to get his truck. The family had kicked him off their land following an underage drinking party. Dahms reached for a knife in the center console of his truck and stabbed Karen, her husband Michael and his brother Ken as they rushed toward him. The jury acquitted Dahms in Michael Dombrowski stabbing.
The judge said the case called for prison and ordered Dahms to write an apology letter to his victims and pay more than $18,000 in restitution. Karen’s father, Joel Zarnke, said in a video statement taped last summer before his death that he cannot forgive Dahms for taking away his daughter.
Matt Lehman, WSAU