Updated to correct the nature of the charge and deleted reference to penalties
A 43-year-old Franklin business owner has been arrested and charged with first-degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse. According to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County, Matthew Neumann, the owner of Spot Free Cleaning in Franklin, allegedly shot and killed one male employee of his business and burned his body and the body of a second employee in a burn pit on land he leases in East Troy. The bodies were discovered in early January.
Franklin police say the charges in this case are the result of an arson investigation by Milwaukee police in early January. During that investigation evidence was discovered that led authorities to execute numerous search warrants at Neumann’s home, his Franklin cleaning business, and a vacant farmhouse he leased for hunting purposes in East Troy.
Police say a preliminary forensic analysis of the human remains, done by the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s office, revealed that the two bodies were between 23 and 41 years of age and that both of Neumann’s former employees fall within that age range.
Franklin Assistant Chief of Police Kevin Magno told WGTD other charges are likely to be forthcoming.
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