RPD Investigating November Motel Murder

Rochester police investigators are involved in a homicide case involving two women and a Wisconsin man.

Rochester Police Captain John Sherwin says the bodies of two women were found inside suitcases that had been left along a road in the Town of Geneva in eastern Wisconsin on June 5th. One was later identified as 37 year old Laura Simonson of Farmington, Minnesota. She was reported missing by her mother last November 22nd. It was eventually determined she was last seen alive in Rochester on November 2nd. Sherwin says his office was contacted June 10th and it was announced yesterday a former police officer from the Milwaukee area was taken into custody as a suspect in the case.

Sherwin says the investigation has determined 52 year old Steven Zelich of West Allis, Wisconsin and Simonson had stayed at the Rochester Microtel Inn and Suites on November 2nd and it’s suspected that’s where she died. Sherwin says Zelich left without her the next day.

He was arrested this past Tuesday after evidence linking him to the bodies was confirmed. Sherwin says he has confessed to being involved in the deaths of both women. A tentative ID of the other woman has been made. It’s believed she died in Wisconsin, before the death of Simonson. Sherwin says she was not from Minnesota or Wisconsin. Sherwin says the investigation is ongoing and it’s not yet known where Zelich will first face prosecution.

He says Simonson and Zelich had established an Internet relationship, apparently through a sex-related website.