Man 'person of interest' in Minocqua murder
By Eric Litke
Sheboygan Press staff
A Sheboygan County native wanted for questioning in his wife's death surrendered last week after his mother refused to help him and convinced him to give up, the mother said Wednesday.
Speaking for the first time about the weeklong manhunt that ended June 24 at her home in rural Sheboygan Falls, Virginia Karstaedt said she never asked the obvious question, though she has her suspicions about what happened.
"I know his wife is dead, but I never asked him how, why or what happened, and I never asked him because I didn't want to know," said Karstaedt, 61, of W2852 Highway J. "I will never speak to my son again. This is the most horrible thing in the world that happened, and we're never going to forgive him, and neither will his father."
"This is a very difficult thing, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't shot on sight."
Police had been looking for 39-year-old William R. Schmidt since June 17, when his wife's body was found in their home in Minocqua. William Schmidt, who grew up in Cascade, is described as a "person of interest" in the death of Lori J. Schmidt, 44.
Authorities say the death investigation is a criminal one but have declined to call the death a murder or reveal the cause of death. Police found Lori Schmidt's body while checking on her well-being at her father's request.
Karstaedt said the couple met while working together at Menards in Rhinelander and were married Feb. 12. Karstaedt was at the wedding but didn't see either of them until William Schmidt came to her house last week.
In the days before his arrest, William Schmidt's pickup was found abandoned near Fond du Lac and he was seen driving a stolen 2001 Ford Escape in Chicago, authorities said. Karstaedt said he also was in Detroit at one point.
Karstaedt first heard from her son the morning of June 24. She said she knew who it was the moment she was notified it was a collect call.
"He called me to ask me to … drive him by his father's house up north," Karstaedt said. "I told him, 'You're wanted — I can't do that. I won't do that.'
"I told him, 'I will tell you to come to my home, I will tell the sheriff's department to come to my home, that way I know everybody's safe, you're not going to be shot on sight.'"
Karstaedt said her son parked the stolen Escape in the nearby parking lot of Smerke's Sportsmens Club and walked to her house. He had made his mother promise not to contact authorities until after he arrived.
"He got here, we hugged him, we kissed him," Karstaedt said, referring to her and her husband, James, William Schmidt's stepfather. "I said, 'I have to call the sheriff's department.'"
Minutes later, about 10 a.m., numerous deputies responded to the house with guns drawn. William Schmidt followed commands to come out of the house alone with his hands up and lay down on the ground.
"I was not helping him, I was telling him to give himself up, and he did," Karstaedt said. "He had no intention of doing that when he called me, but I talked to him on the phone and told him to give himself up, it's time to end this now, and he did."
William Schmidt was held in the Sheboygan County Jail until Monday, when he was picked up by Oneida County authorities and returned to face questioning. He had been held on a probation hold.
William Schmidt attended Plymouth High School, though he did not graduate, his mother said. Court records show he last listed a local address in 1996, when he was living in Plymouth.
That same year he was convicted of burglary and sentenced to 13 years in prison, authorities said. He was released in January 2009 and lived with his father in St. Germain until the wedding, Karstaedt said.
Karstaedt said authorities had also been at her house the day Lori Schmidt died.
"The minute they found his wife's body they contacted me, everyone was here, they searched my home," Karstaedt said. "They said, 'Being his mother, wouldn't he contact you?' I said I didn't think he would, because the last time he was on the run 13 years ago he didn't contact me until he got caught, but this time he ran out of money and he did contact me."
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