Zocco in court, Kelly Dwyer's uncle speaks with FOX6
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The man who may have been the last person to see a missing Milwaukee woman made a court appearance on Tuesday, November 19th. Kris Zocco had a hearing on Tuesday in his drug case.
Zocco has been a free man since November 6th, when he posted $250,000 bail -- one day after a judge ordered his bail to remain at $250K, after Zocco's attorney tried to get his bail reduced.
Zocco may have been one of the last to see 27-year-old Kelly Dwyer, who has been missing since October 11th.
Dwyer was reportedly last seen eating at an East Side restaurant on October 10th. Zocco has told Dwyer’s mother he last saw her leaving his East Side apartment on the morning of October 11th.
Over 20 surveillance cameras near the East Side apartment building have been unable to provide answers.
“I’ve been to the building. I’ve talked to security there. They got a multitude of surveillance tapes. There’s nothing to show her either leaving alive, leaving dead or leaving any other way. They don’t see it on any cameras. It’s hard. Obviously if he had something to do with it you want to rip him apart — but you don’t know. If he has and they find out, he gets what’s coming to him. In this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty, but it doesn’t look good for his home team,” Dwyer's uncle, John Van Laur has said.
Van Laur says with the holidays approaching, Dwyer's family is coming to terms with the fact that Dwyer will not be with her family.
"It'd be a miracle. It'd be a miracle if Kelly's chair was filled, but miracles do happen. If it's not filled, we'll all be grateful she was there for 27 years, and we're grateful she was a great kid," Van Laur said.
Zocco was initially taken into custody on drug charges on October 17th. The charges came to light during the investigation into Dwyer’s whereabouts when officials allegedly found drugs and drug paraphernalia at Zocco’s home.
Zocco was officially charged with five different drug related counts including keeping a drug house, intent to deliver a controlled substance, and possession of cocaine.
In the drug case, Zocco posted bail and was released.
Zocco told the judge he would be staying at his East Side apartment, but ended up staying at his parents’ home in Richfield. This was not reported to the court — another reason the judge gave for Zocco’s initial bail increase.
Zocco was later picked up at his parent’s home in Richfield and charged with 17 counts of child pornography. Police allegedly uncovered approximately 23 videos in Zocco’s apartment — some containing children as young as 2 to 3 years old.
On October 28th, Zocco posted a $25,000 bail in the child pornography case. However, Zocco wasn’t released at that time, as he awaited a GPS monitoring device to be installed.
The District Attorney’s Office says no GPS devices were available via the Justice Point electronic monitoring program that is currently operating over capacity — so Zocco’s attorneys argued for a change to the original bail conditions.
Zocco’s bail was increased – to $75,000 — and the GPS requirement was lifted. One day later, his bail was increased to $250,000.
Zocco was forced to surrender his passport as a condition of bail.
Zocco is not facing any charges in connection with Dwyer's disappearance. Dwyer's family is offering a $10,000 reward for clues leading police to the missing woman.