Steven Zelich
Jury selection begins this morning in the murder trial of a former West Allis police officer accused of killing two women and then leaving their bodies in suit cases along a road.
54-year-old Steven Zelich is charged with murder in Wisconsin and Minnesota. His trial begins this week in Kenosha County for the 2012 death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez of Cottage Grove, Oregon. Zelich will be tried later for the killing of 37-year-old Laura Simonson from Farmington, Minnesota, who is believed to have been killed at a hotel in Rochester, MN.
The bodies of both women were found in suitcases left along a highway in rural Walworth County in June of 2014. According to court documents, Zelich admitted to killing both women accidentally during what he described as “rough” sexual encounters.
The Wisconsin jury will be allowed to hear details about both murder cases. Minnesota authorities are waiting to begin the second murder trial until the Wisconsin case is wrapped up.