Dousman tavern robbery, machete attack; victim's family speaks out
DOUSMAN, Wis. - On Main Street in the Village of Dousman, one bar has always been the place to be for Amy Knickelbein and her family.
It's where her husband Jon was playing bar dice around 2 a.m. Thursday morning, May 30. It's also where his life almost ended.
"The bartender starts turning lights off," Knickelbein said. "They were just about ready to shut down, and then the guy comes in with a mask and a machete."
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She said Jon was wounded in five spots. His left wrist is broken and almost entirely slashed through. The machete also broke the scapula in his left shoulder.
Amy and Jon Knickelbein
He has wounds on his scalp, left forearm and around his ribs.
"According to the video, he was just slashing him," she said.
After all that, the 50-year-old had the wherewithal to tell the bartender to run and to get himself help.
Dousman tavern robbery; masked suspect armed with machete, police say
A 53-year-old man is accused of robbing the Dousman House Tavern on Main Street on Thursday, May 30. Investigators say the man wore a Halloween mask and was armed with a machete.
"Once I saw him laying on the bed, it was just blood all over the floor," Knickelbein said. "It just, it was a mess, and just seeing him lifeless was hard."
Jon Knickelbein
Summit police, which covers Dousman, say a detective quickly saw the suspect's vehicle and chased it north until the driver lost control and went airborne, crashing into a power pole outside a home on Dousman Road.
Police then arrested the 53-year-old suspect.
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"Today just doesn’t seem real," Knickelbein said. "I don’t know how someone would do that to another human."
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Jon's recovery journey.
Summit police said the suspect was still in the hospital as of Monday afternoon, June 3. He has not yet been charged.
As for Jon, he had surgery on Thursday aimed to reconnect the tendons in his left hand. They are hopeful he will have a full recovery, though it will take a lot of time.