Personnel file out of West Allis PD shows years of allegations against Steven Zelich...from women
WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- A personnel file...three to four inches thick! FOX6 News has obtained the personnel records for former West Allis police officer Steven Zelich. Zelich has been charged with two counts of hiding a corpse -- after the bodies of two women, one from Minnesota, and one from Oregon were found stuffed in suitcases discovered on the side of the road in the Town of Geneva last month.
Zelich's personnel files show women -- including a hairstylist, exotic dancers, a college student, and a bartender all told police Zelich was bothering them -- even stalking them, and wouldn't stop.
So far, Zelich only faces two counts of hiding a corpse out of Walworth County. He is set to stand trial in the case.
The bodies of 37-year-old Laura Simonson of Farmington, Minnesota, and 21-year-old Jenny Gamez of Oakridge, Oregon were found in suitcases in the Town of Geneva on June 5th.
52-year-old Zelich was later arrested -- and according to the criminal complaint filed against him out of Walworth County, he has admitted to causing the deaths of both Simonson and Gamez.
A Walworth County detective has testified that Zelich told him he caused the deaths of Simonson and Gamez during rough sex -- and then put their bodies in suitcases that he hid for months before dumping them in the Town of Geneva.
Detective Jeffrey Recknagel says Zelich told him he killed the women accidentally after separate sexual encounters that were rough and included bondage.
"The first suitcase had an adult woman. She was naked. She had a gag-ball in her mouth that was attached to a collar," Recknagel said -- speaking of the suitcase in which Simonson's body was found.
The complaint against Zelich says Gamez was found partially concealed in garbage bags. Her hands were found bound with rope behind her back.
According to the criminal complaint, Zelich told police he met both women while chatting online.
Zelich told police he met Jenny Gamez in person in late 2012 or early 2013 in Kenosha County.
Zelich told officials he met Laura Simonson personally in Rochester, Minnesota in November of 2013.
"They spent days at the hotel. He participated in a BDSM session, and during that session, he ultimately took her life," Recknagel said.
In both cases, the complaint against Zelich says he told police he placed the bodies in suitcases -- taking them back to his West Allis apartment.
Now, personnel records obtained by FOX6 News show years of allegations against Zelich of inappropriate contact with women.
Also in Zelich's personnel records: Details of the incident that eventually led to his resignation from the force.
In May of 2001, a prostitute told police Zelich wouldn't let her out of a bedroom at his West Allis apartment. She says she heard the sound of handcuffs, and she said Zelich went ballistic.
The woman says Zelich body-slammed her to the floor and choked her.
The woman told police she thought she was going to die -- telling investigators she even asked Zelich if he was going to kill her.
The prostitute, who managed to escape, went to police and told them Zelich was "nuts."
That is one of many incidents West Allis police were investigating.
In his personnel file are numerous complaints about Zelich from women accusing him of stalking them, passing out his unlisted cell phone number while on-duty, asking for dates and not taking no for an answer.
In one case, Zelich was questioned about a dancer at a strip club. He was asked whether it is true that he has asked the woman out "numerous, possibly hundreds of times" in the last eight years. Zelich answered: Yes.
In another case, an investigator confronted Zelich with information that another accuser moved three times, and had an unpublished phone number -- yet Zelich always found out where she lived and had her phone number.
Other documents show Zelich would do traffic stops on some of the dancers -- running license plates and getting personal information, including their phone numbers and their addresses.
Records show that in one case, a stripper told police Zelich offered to loan her his handcuffs for her police officer stripping routine.
An investigator told Zelich: "The reason she stopped answering your phone calls and actually stopped dancing on Sunday nights was because she was afraid of you. You were stalking her."
In another case involving a former hairdresser, Zelich is accused of blocking the woman's car in to have conversations with her. Documents show Zelich routinely waited for the woman in an alley -- even though she told him she had a fiance and a baby.
Documents say that when she told Zelich he scared her -- his response was that "he was supposed to scare people."
None of the incidents, including the altercation and physical struggle with a prostitute in 2001 were ever referred to the District Attorney's Office by West Allis police.
Zelich writes in his resignation letter that he offered to resign so that charges would not be referred.
Authorities in Wisconsin and Minnesota continue to investigate the deaths of Laura Simonson and Jenny Gamez.
Officials say Zelich told them he caused the deaths of Simonson in Rochester, Minnesota, and Gamez in Kenosha County.
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