The decades old murder of a child in Black River Falls has been solved. During a press conference on Thursday, Jackson County District Attorney Gerald Fox said Christopher Thundercloud had been a suspect in the August, 1989 death of 9 year-old Jennifer Wesho. Fox said Thundercloud, a family acquaintance, was the last person to be seen with Jennifer before her father discovered the little girl’s body. “He was interviewed during the early stages of the investigation,” said Fox. “Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the investigation focused away from Mr. Thundercloud, and on to some other people.”
An arrest was made two years later, but that suspect was released and the case went cold. John Cristopherson, a special agent with the state Department of Justice, said forensic reports from the state crime lab confirmed Thundercloud, who was 38 years-old at the time of the murder and who died in 2006, as the killer. Ralph Snake, Jennifer Wesho’s uncle and a spokesman for the family, said he hoped the confirmation of Thundercloud as the killer would allow the family to find closure and healing.
Brian Brawner, WWIS