The man charged in Walworth County with hiding the corpses of two women back in June of 2014 faces a plea and sentencing hearing there next week. Former West Allis policeman Steven Zelich was sentenced to 35 years in Kenosha County back in March for first degree reckless homicide of one of the two women, 18 year old Jenny Gamez from Oregon, whom Zelich had met online and lured to a Kenosha hotel where she perished during a sexual choking game.
The case now returns to where the crimes were first detected, and it’s a case that’s far from over. Zelich never disputed that he dumped the bodies of Jenny Gamez and 37 year old Laura Simonsen in a rural area near Lake Geneva, each found in her own suitcase she had brought to meet Zelich in hotel rooms after first meeting him online. Court records say Zelich had instructed each to erase any records of their identities before meeting Gamez in Kenosha and Simonson in Minnesota.
Now he will be sentenced for the final act to erase their existence, in Walworth County where he has been held in the county jail while awaiting results of his Kenosha trial.
Gamez died during the sexual encounter with Zelich in August 2012, Laura Simonson perished in a similar incident in November 2013 in Rochester, Minnesota. Zelich, who claims both events were accidental, is said to have stored the bodies in his West Allis apartment and then his car trunk before dumping them nearly 2 years ago on North Como Road in Town of Geneva.
The Lake Geneva Times reports that following the conclusion of the Walworth County case, it is believed that Zelich will be extradited to Minnesota, where Olmstead County prosecutors are planning a homicide prosecution for the death of Simonson.