Multi-state crime spree ends in Wisconsin; 3 dead, including teen

DANE COUNTY, Wis. - A multi-state crime spree from Iowa to Wisconsin ended with three people dead on Wednesday evening, April 10.

It started in Dubuque County, Iowa, after a woman was killed in a home. Police identified her as 32-year-old Tana Poppe.

Poppe had two children, a 13-year-old and a 5-month-old.

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A short time later, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said they received a call around 5:30 p.m. in the Town of Dunn, after an infant, who was later identified as the 5-month-old, was dropped off at a home there by a male and female suspect.

Officers determined Poppe’s 13-year-old daughter and a man later identified as 38-year-old Alexander C. Grunke, age 38, of Middleton, were the suspects. The two were firing rounds at authorities while on a chase through multiple jurisdictions.

Barrett said their vehicle eventually hit spike strips and both suspects ran away in the Town of Albion.

When the car stopped, the 13-year-old girl ran off into the woods.

Grunke started shooting a nearby home and then ran inside the home, where a woman and two children were inside, and barricaded himself in the basement. Deputies were able to get the family out unharmed.

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Grunke was heard firing shots from inside the house, and he was not responding to attempts by negotiators to make contact, officials said. After several hours, he was found deceased with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The 13-year-old girl was later found dead in the nearby woods. It’s unclear how she died.

No deputies were hurt, and neither was the 5-month-old.

The investigation is ongoing.