A Beloit man accused in the January 2016 drive-by death of young boy has been sentenced to prison. Rock County Judge Michael Haakensen sentenced 26-year-old Sergio Ortiz Friday to 40 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint Ortiz and three other men were looking for rival gang members when they fired shots at a vehicle driven by Austin Ramos, Senior. He was not hit, but five-year-old Austin Ramos, Junior was killed.

Ortiz plead guilty in July to first degree reckless homicide. Three other defendants still face charges- prosecutors say they have been cooperating.

WCLO

The Wisconsin driver accused of killing four people last weekend has been formally charged in Chippewa County Court. Twenty one year-old Colten Treu faces eleven charges, including homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and hit and run resulting in death.

Investigators say he and a passenger in his truck were “huffing” just before Treu plowed into a Girl Scout troop picking up trash along a Chippewa County road last Saturday. Three Girl Scouts and a mother of one of the girls were killed, and a fourth girl injured. Treu is scheduled to appear back in court on December 11th.

Funerals and memorial services for the victims –  32-year-old Sara Schneider and her 10-year-old daughter Haylee Hickle, 9-year-old Jayna Kelly and 10-year-old Autumn Helgeson – are taking place this week.

A 20-year-old Dane County  woman’s suspicions about her boyfriend’s infidelity may have led to his fatal beating. McKayla Tracy of Lodi wept through the entirety of a bail hearing Thursday.

Investigators allege Tracy’s boyfriend, 24-year-old Dalton Ziegler, was beaten Tuesday at his home in the Town of Dane.

Deputy Dane County District Attorney Matthew Moeser said Tracy summoned Drew Luber of DeForest and Jacob Johnson of Sun Prairie to the home to confront Ziegler over his alleged cheating. Moeser said the two men then beat Ziegler

Tracy’s attorney, Greg Dutch, claimed Tracy tried to intervene to spare Ziegler. But Moeser said Tracy, Luber and Johnson left Ziegler at the home. Another woman who was at the home at the time of beating also left, but returned later to call 911. By then it was too late.

Felony murder charges will be filed against Tracy, Luber and Johnson.

WIBA

Two people wanted for a string of violent crimes in Wisconsin have been taken into custody in Ohio. Samuel Schutte, age 34, was arrested Tuesday in Toledo. U.S. Marshals then arrested 28-year-old Stephanie Retzlaff in the same city the following afternoon.

Schutte and Retzlaff are accused of a long series of crimes like armed robbery, theft and bail jumping over the last two months. Investigators say they traveled to Ohio in a car which had been stolen in West Bend.

The Green County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert on Monday after the couple eluded arrest in Dane and Milwaukee counties.

Newly unsealed court documents reveal that a contractor specializing in preventing utility accidents may have made a mistake that led to July’s natural gas explosion in Sun Prairie.

A search warrant says an employee of USIC failed to correctly mark the gas line in the street, marking it about 25 feet away from where it actually was. That line was cut by a utility crew.

Sun Prairie firefighter Cory Barr died in the ensuing explosion. The Wisconsin State Journal reports the warrant was part of a search for evidence that could support a second-degree reckless homicide charge for Barr’s death.

WIBA

A Madison man maintains his alleged attempt at acquiring a radioactive substance was intended to help him potentially commit suicide, not to hurt others.

Federal Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker ruled Monday that there was probable cause to believe 30-year-old Jeremy Ryan tried to purchase Polonium-210 to cause harm, or to kill someone.  Crocker also ruled Ryan would remain jailed, because he presented a risk to the community and is also a flight risk.

Ryan’s public defender Joseph Bugni said by the time Ryan arranged for an online purchase this month of Polonium-210 from what turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, Ryan’s intention was to use the radioactive substance as a back-up plan to commit suicide.  Bugni and Ryan’s supporters say Ryan has a cancer that is in remission.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Anderson said Ryan’s initial, on-line connection with the undercover agent in March included Ryan’s statements he was prepared to kill someone with the substance.  Anderson also said Ryan wanted a rare material so as to create suspicion of government involvement in any death.

Ryan picked up a package containing what he thought was Polonium-210 at a Madison UPS store last week. Ryan, previously known as a persistent Capitol presence during the 2011 Act 10 protests,  was arrested a short time later after he went to the Shoe Box retail store in Black Earth.  Anderson said the package was in Ryan’s car.

WIBA

A man was arrested over the weekend for burglarizing the home of a murdered northern Wisconsin couple on the day of their funerals. The Barron County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday that 32-year-old Kyle Jaenke of Cameron is accused of burglarizing the home of James and Denise Closs.

The couple’s 13-year-old daughter Jayme Closs has been missing since October 15, when her parents were murdered at the family home.

Janke was arrested on Saturday, and charged with burglary and bail jumping. Jaenke has been cleared of any involvement in the disappearance of Jayme Closs.

The reward for information leading to the return of the missing and endangered teen has been raised to $50,000.

Chief Mike Koval WRN file photo

Madison police are investigating the city’s fifth homicide of the year, a man who was shot in downtown a parking ramp early Sunday morning.

Chief Mike Koval said investigators don’t believe it to be a random shooting. “We find it highly unlikely that they first saw one another for the time of first impression at the point that they were at the ramp,” Koval said. “We have indication that there was something that occurred as a predicate prior to this.”

Officers found the man who had been shot in the torso. He died at a hospital. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man as Steven Villegas, 21, of Madison.

Police said they are going through surveillance video from the area but they’re also asking for the public’s help to identify a suspect.

WIBA