A Kenosha man has been charged in the death of a woman whose body was discovered in the Chicago Loop over the weekend. Police say 40-year-old Matthew McDowell admitted killing his girlfriend, 30-year-old Erin Ziemendorf of West Allis, and leaving her body in a car.
According to the criminal complaint, McDowell and Ziemendorf were in an argument last Sunday at his residence, and that the argument turned physical. He told police that he pushed Ziemendorf, and that she attacked him with a corkscrew. McDowell told police he pushed his Ziemendorf onto the bed, got his hands around her neck, and that Ziemendorf’s hands left his face after he heard a crack. McDowell admitted that police upon realizing his girlfriend was dead, he put her body in the trunk of her car and drove it down to Chicago. McDowell told family members he took a train back to Kenosha and caught a cab home. He later turned himself in to Kenosha police.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Ziemendorf’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the neck. If convicted of both first degree homicide and hiding a body, McDowell could face life in prison. He’s due in court November 5th.
