A police chief in West Allis, Wisconsin, says it seems like there were clear warning signs about a former police officer now suspected in the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in suitcases dumped along a rural road about 50 miles away.
But Chief Charles Padgett says the signs of coming violence are only clear in hindsight.
Padgett was a detective when Steven Zelich was forced to resign following an internal investigation that determined Zelich was stalking women while on duty.
Zelich came under suspicion in 2001 after a struggle with a prostitute. An internal investigation by the West Allis Police Department determined he was stalking women while on duty. It also found Zelich tried to sell many of those women phone service as part of a side business he had with another officer.
Greg Peterson is president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group, which sets standards for police agencies. He says the Zelich case is unusual but shows what can happen if departments don't have clear policies on side jobs.
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Padgett says the violent end to Zelich's "very unique" story has saddened his department.
He says he and other officers keep thinking about the families of the women who died. He says he feels for them and the loss they are trying to deal with.
Walworth County authorities have said the women were killed elsewhere and they expect homicide charges to be filed in those other counties.
Walworth County Sheriff's Detective Jeffrey Recknagel says Zelich told him he killed the women accidentally after separate sexual encounters that were rough and included bondage.
Zelich's public defender has said the deaths may have been accidents.
"It is one of the more horrific crimes I've been involved in," said Geneva Police Chief Steven Hurley, who has worked for 36 years in law enforcement. "It has taken a lot of twists and turns in the past few weeks."
Police identified one woman as Laura Simonson, 37, of Farmington, Minnesota. Simonson was found naked with a rope around her neck and a ball gag strapped in her mouth with a collar, according to the criminal complaint filed in Walworth County.
The second woman was identified as Jenny Gamez of Oregon. Investigators believe Gamez was killed in Wisconsin in late 2012 or early 2013, when she was 19.
