Pomeranian Flag
Lori Bogenschneider (1959-1993)
Body Found in Dodge County Ditch - Parents of Slain woman ask "why?"
Sheriff declines to reveal cause of death, whether murder weapon found. By Meg
Ones of the Journal Sentinel staff.
For more than two years Lori Bogenschneider's parents didn't know what happened
to their daughter.
Now that her body has been found, they can lay their daughter to rest. But
the question remains: How did she end up murdered in a rural Dodge County ditch?
"Just the wondering makes you goofy," her mother, Phyllis Bogenschneider,
said in a telephone interview Monday. "So that part of it is a good feeling
(knowing she was found). But she didn't deserve to die the way she did. She was
a trusting person. That was part of her downfall."
Bogenschneider's skeletal remains were found Dec. 7 by a crew clearing
roadside brush in the Town of Herman.
Dodge County Sheriff Steve Fitzgerald said Monday that Bogenschneider was
murdered, but he declined to reveal the cause of death. He said it was "a strong
possiblity" that her body had been at the site since her death.
"Evidence that was found at the scene would lead us to believe that this was a
homicide," Fitzgerald said. "The body was found in a ditch line covered with
heavy growth and brush. It's down off the roadway so somebody traveling on the
road wouldn't see it."
The sheriff declined to say whether a murder weapon was found at the scene.
Bogenschneider was 34 when she vanished Aug. 29, 1993, after leaving a tavern in
Mayville, where she lived. Her body was found four to five miles away.
Phyllis Bogenschneider wonders what happened to her daughter.
"She got into bad company and that's all I know," she said. "It's hard to
imagine it."
Bogenschneider was working at part-time cleaning jobs at the times she
disappeared. Her children, a 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, live with
the Bogenschneiders in Theresa. Bogenschneider grew up on a Theresa farm and
attended school in Lomira and Mayville, said her father, Willard Bogenschneider.
A memorial service will be held for Bogenschneider tonight at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Theresa, where she was a member.
Mayville Police Chief Merlin Kahlhamer declined to say where Bogenschneider was
last seen in Mayville. "At least there's a definitive 'yes, this did happen' as
opposed to speculation," Kahlhamer said.
Dodge County sheriff's investigators are trying to trace Bogenschneider's
whereabouts. But because of the time lag, finding witnesses could be difficult
and their memories may not be sharp anymore, he added.
"It's never easy, especially when you an investigation almost 2 1/2 years old,"
Fitzgerald said. "There's several people we want to talk to and locating them
after 2 1/2 years is difficult. We believe we'll be able to find the people we
want to talk to."
Obituary of Lori Frieda Bogenschneider
Lori Fried Bogenschneider, 34, formerly of 546 N. Main Street, Mayville, disappeared August 29, 1993, and was found December 7, 1995, near Madison Road in the Town of Herman.
She was born on August 16, 1959, in Milwaukee, a daughter of Willard and Phyllis Weiss Bogenschneider.
Survivors include her parents; one son, Mark A., and one daughter, Jennifer L., both of Theresa; one brother lonn and his wife Linda of Campbellsport; three sisters, Lyra Dalle Nogare and her husband Dave, and Lynn Haefs and her husband Kevin, all of Lomira, and Lona Schaefer and her husband Joseph of Sheboygan; and nieces and nephews.
Her maternal and paternal grandparents preceded her in death.