Former officer accused of killing two women, hiding their remains in suitcases to appear in court

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A prosecutor in southern Wisconsin will summarize evidence during a preliminary hearing for a former police officer accused of killing two women and hiding their remains in a pair of suitcases.

Steven Zelich is due in Kenosha County Circuit Court Friday in the 2012 death of Jenny Gamez, of Cottage Grove, Oregon. A criminal complaint says the 52-year-old former suburban Milwaukee officer killed the 19-year-old college student during a sexual choking game that went too far, hid her body in a suitcase and then kept her body in his refrigerator for months.

Zelich also is a suspect in the death of a Farmington, Minnesota, woman.

The women's bodies were found in June in suitcases left along a rural Walworth County highway about an hour southwest of Milwaukee.