Posted by Bud on June 24, 2011 at 09:32:19:
Two in custody in Brookfield man's death
63-year-old victim may have had neck broken
By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
June 23, 2011
Brookfield - The 63-year-old Brookfield man who was found dead in his home Wednesday had been beaten and bound, his face wrapped in duct tape and plastic grocery bags placed over his head, according to court records filed Thursday afternoon to detain two people on suspicion of homicide.
The victim, John Aegerter, may have been strangled or had his neck broken during the attack at his home sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday, the court records state.
And Aegerter may have been killed in a dispute over money, records state.
Tommy V. Douyette, 42, was ordered held on $750,000 bail on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide and Lynn M. Hajny, 48, was ordered held on $500,000 bail on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide, party to a crime. No formal charges were filed Thursday during their initial court appearances, but Waukesha County Circuit Court Commissioner Thomas J. Pieper determined that probable cause existed to hold them in connection with the homicide.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Lough said she expects to file charges sometime next week.
Aegerter's body was discovered by Brookfield police about 9:55 a.m. Wednesday after officers were asked by one of his employees to go to his home in the 14300 block of Golf Parkway and check on him because he had not shown up for work.
Aegerter, who lived alone, owned communications companies and several communication towers that transmit cellphone, pager and two-way business radio signals.
The body was found face down in the garage. Aegerter's ankles were tied with a black electrical cord, and a white electrical cord was around his neck, court records state. A sleeping bag had been placed partially over the body.
Lough, outside the courtroom, said she could not comment on what led authorities to arrest Douyette and Hajny. She also said it was unclear if the victim knew his attackers, and she had no clear idea of what the motive was for the killing.
However, court records indicate that Hajny's cousin called police on Wednesday and told them Hajny had telephoned her and told her she had killed someone. Sometime after that call, Hajny and Douyette showed up at the woman's Slinger home, court records state, and said they had been at Aegerter's home.
Hajny's husband, Albert, at one time was employed by Aegerter, and Hajny had asked him about money he owed her husband, court records state.
According to the court records:
Hajny then told her cousin Aegerter was in the garage "dead with his feet tied," and that she had taken his house and car keys, $75 in cash from his wallet and his credit card.
The cousin asked how Aegerter was killed and Hajny stated, "Tom snapped his neck," court records say.
The two, according to the cousin, also planned on trying to hide the killing. They talked about obtaining a freezer, presumably to hold the body, and hydrogen peroxide, presumably to dissolve it.
They also wanted to return to the crime scene to clean it up because there were soda cans in a refrigerator there with their fingerprints on them, Hajny told the cousin.
Questioned by police, Douyette allegedly admitted that he had struck Aegerter about nine times with his bare hands because Hajny had asked him to hurt Aegerter, court records say.
He told investigators that they had gone to Aegerter's house because Aegerter was two to three months behind in paying Albert Hajny, records state.
An autopsy was being conducted on Aegerter to determine the specific cause of death, Lough said.
She told Pieper that Aegerter had strangulation marks on his neck, bruises on his face, broken ribs and that a knife may have been involved.
Aegerter in the 1960s was a nighttime transmitter engineer at a Milwaukee radio station, when they had to staff engineers at the transmitter plant, said Mark Heller, president of WGBW radio in Two Rivers.
Heller, an acquaintance of Aegerter, said Aegerter also collected vintage transmitters, including an old WOKY transmitter from the late 1950s that he restored.