Ellis did time for beating woman with hammer
By John Diedrich, Gina Barton and Ryan Haggerty of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 9, 2009
The man charged with killing Milwaukee prostitutes used a hammer, a screwdriver and his bare hands to hurt different women over nearly a quarter-century, according to his dozen criminal cases analyzed Wednesday by the Journal Sentinel.
Walter E. Ellis was back in a courtroom Wednesday, this time on homicide charges. The 49-year-old Milwaukee man made his first appearance on charges that he killed Joyce Mims, 41, and Ouithreaun Stokes, 28, a decade apart.
A $1 million bail was set. Ellis' preliminary hearing is Sept. 23. District Attorney John Chisholm said he expects to charge Ellis with more homicides on Thursday. Ellis' DNA has been linked to at least nine homicides over 21 years.
Ellis' lawyer, Alejandro Lockwood, asked for $50,000 bail, calling the million-dollar bail "unconstitutional and excessive."
Chisholm countered, "Based on the nature of this case, I certainly think that this is an appropriate bail to set."
Hundreds of pages of court records over 31 years portray Ellis as a jealous, violent man who served five terms in prison, but also slipped out from under charges of violence repeatedly.
Ellis' family came from Mississippi, and he grew up on Milwaukee's north side. Neighbors describe Ellis as a teen menace, terrorizing the neighborhood of his boyhood home near N. 6th and W. Chambers streets.
Records indicate he has a juvenile record. Those cases were not available Wednesday.
Life of crime
Months after his 18th birthday in 1978, Ellis already was a felon, convicted of burglary. He received probation but no prison, according to documents.
In 1980, Ellis and three other men were charged with robbing and beating a man, according to documents. The charges were dropped against Ellis.
The first connection between Ellis and prostitutes surfaced the same year as the robbery. He was arrested but not charged with solicitation, records show.
In 1981, Ellis was convicted - twice - of selling marijuana. Records show he was arrested several other times for drugs, but wasn't charged. At age 21, he went to prison. He got out about three years later, in February 1985.
Just three months later, Ellis was back in court. This time he was charged with attacking his girlfriend after accusing her of cheating on him. He punched her repeatedly in the face, pulling out a gun and forcing her to prostitute herself on W. North Ave., the criminal complaint says.
Ellis watched from his car as she had sex with seven different men over several hours in a parking lot, according to charging documents.
Those charges, too, were dropped. Records don't say why.
The following year, investigators say Ellis killed for the first time, strangling two prostitutes a day apart in October 1986.
Ellis' life of crime continued with charges of theft, shoplifting, fleeing, bail jumping and drug dealing, according to records.
He went back to prison in late 1988 and didn't get out until May 1992. He was locked up again six months later at a Milwaukee halfway house for violating probation.
While he was in the halfway house, authorities contend, he killed a third prostitute, Irene Smith. Her body was dumped a block from where Ellis had lived with his mother - the first of at least six bodies detectives suspect he left close to his house.
Ellis was interviewed by police following several of the homicides, but was never arrested, according to documents.
Charges dropped
Nearly two years later, in October 1994, Carron Kilpatrick was killed, another homicide that detectives think Ellis committed based on DNA evidence. Her body was dumped a block from where Ellis lived with his mother.
Just a month after Kilpatrick was murdered, Ellis was charged with attacking a different girlfriend with a screwdriver. The charges were dropped without explanation.
Throughout 1995, two women and a teen-age girl were murdered. All of them have been connected to Ellis' DNA by detectives.
After those three deaths, Ellis was charged with choking his girlfriend until she passed out, records show. It was the same girlfriend Ellis had attacked with a screwdriver the previous year. Again, the case was dropped without explanation.
Another prostitute, Mims, was murdered in 1997, again dumped just blocks from where Ellis lived.
The following year, the system caught up with him again, this time for beating a different girlfriend with a hammer in front of her daughter, according to records. Ellis accused the woman of cheating on him. Doctors needed 52 stitches and staples to close her head.
Ellis pleaded guilty and received five years in prison. He served less than three years behind bars.
Last year, Ellis' then-girlfriend said he burned her car and threatened her every day, according to documents. She filed for a court order to keep him away.
Ellis was supposed to come to court in May to fight the injunction. He never showed.
No comments:
Post a Comment