Aug. 13, 2025 8:45p
(WGTD)---At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, a Kenosha court commissioner found "probable cause" in the case of two defendants who are accused of conspiring to kill the then-spouse of one of them.
70-year-old John Viskocil and 71-year-old Roxanna Collins are charged with 1st Degree Intentional Homicide in the 2003 death of 47-year-old David Vanderzee in his Powers Lake home. Collins had been married to Vanderzee. The Vanderzee's, Viskocil and Viskocil's live-in girlfriend, Janie Dunham, were all friends, although the prosecution accuses Viskocil and Collins of going a step further and being romantically involved.
The victim was shot five time in the head, with most of the bullets entering through the back of his skull, according to testimony at Wednesday's preliminary hearing.
Following the hearing, Court Commissioner Bill Michel bound the defendants over for trial, although he conceded that the case--built entirely on circumstantial evidence--was "not one of the strongest" he's seen.
The defendants' attorneys argued that the case is nothing more than speculation, conjecture and unproven theories. The murder weapon was never recovered.
The only witness to testify Wednesday was Lt. Neal Paulsen, commander of the Kenosha County Sheriff's Office detective bureau. He reopened the old case earlier this year and conducted a fresh set of interviews.
Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis' line of questioning Wednesday centered on several perceived oddities exhibited by the defendants on the day of the murder.
For one thing, Collins, who discovered the body, was unable to tell 911 dispatchers what had happened, but then moments later blurted out to neighbors across the street that her husband had in fact been shot. Paulsen testified that in his opinion, given a lack of obvious signs of gunplay, it would've been "highly unlikely" for the average person to immediately tell what had happened.
Solis also pointed to a series of phone calls between the defendants on the day of the murder, although the defense noted that some of the calls went unanswered and in any event weren't conclusive of anything.
Solis also found significance in Viskocil coming home from an unusual solo fishing outing on Powers Lake the evening of the murder and immediately washing the clothes he'd been wearing--Viskocil said he did so because he had fallen into the water upon docking. But Dunham doesn't remember Viskocil coming home wet.
A pretrial hearing before Judge Anthony Milisauskus was scheduled for Oct. 22nd. The defendants remain free on $500,000 bonds.
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