# Murder, child abduction, and torture in Portage **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241 "2007-06-16T12:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/1 "2007-06-16T12:27:33Z")
Florida called the local police to check on a child abduction. They found 4 kids at a home near the railroad yard. Two women were arrested. A fifteen year old girl said that her mother was dead… The police were told a boy was still in the house, so they went back and searched for him. He was found tortured and malnourished. The mother’s body was dug up from the garden. A man wanted for questioning was picked up in Millwaukee. Nobody is charged yet with the murder. An autopsy on the woman’s body is scheduled for today. These people seem to have been transitory, changing states of residence often. [http://www.wiscnews.com/pdr/news/197443](http://www.wiscnews.com/pdr/news/197443) ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/2 "2007-06-16T19:16:17Z")
I have some relatives that live in that area (Pardeeville). I thought nothing exciting ever happened there, besides the occasional poacher and the annual watermelon seed spitting contest. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/3 "2007-06-16T21:37:25Z")
I was glad we had the internet to check up on this. Ma was going around calling friends to have them be careful. Luckly all were apprehended by the time I heard about it. I told her she didn’t have to worry about a killer on the loose. Unfortunately Portage being a junction of some major throughfares, and having a state prison, we do get some bad transients coming through. So have you heard of Suzie the duck? I’m just curious. I think Pardeeville has the cow chip throwing contest too. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/4 "2007-06-16T21:49:45Z")
When I was a kid, my family used to go camping at the Indian Trails campground near Pardeeville every Memorial Day weekend. My local friends misheard and thought it sounded like fun: “Partyville!” Not hardly. Don’t be selling Wisconsin burgs short for gruesome excitement. After all, just a short hop up I-39 from Portage and you’re in beautiful downtown Plainfield, home of **Ed Gein**! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/5 "2007-06-16T22:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] When I was a kid, my family used to go camping at the Indian Trails campground near Pardeeville every Memorial Day weekend. My local friends misheard and thought it sounded like fun: “Partyville!” Not hardly. Don’t be selling Wisconsin burgs short for gruesome excitement. After all, just a short hop up I-39 from Portage and you’re in beautiful downtown Plainfield, home of **Ed Gein**! [/QUOTE] My good friend was from Plainfield, and her family had to deal with Ed Gein and their deceased relatives. They decided they didn’t want to know if he had dug any of them up, so they never had the bodies exhumed. I think they had the right idea. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/6 "2007-06-16T23:37:50Z")
The incident in Delaven is a nasty bit too. > **[gazettextra.com | Local matters](https://www.gazettextra.com/)** ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/7 "2007-06-17T00:00:50Z")
But, but…this is _Wisconsin_. Land of Milk and Honey. Garrison Keilor. Solid, boring, Middle America. Your turn in the barrel. And, since I just read the story, I’m sorry for sounding flippant. Heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/8 "2007-06-17T01:35:46Z")
Keillor is from Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/9 "2007-06-17T02:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Keillor is from Minnesota. [/QUOTE] There’s a difference? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/10 "2007-06-17T02:50:42Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Keillor is from Minnesota. [/QUOTE] I challenge anyone to be plunked down in the middle of either State, devoid of any navigational aids, and tell the difference. 😛 But back c. 1990 at the place I worked a number of us developed this entirely unsupported hypothesis about how all these really freaky things happen in the “heartland”… It’s just that your subject gets up one morning and beholds those amber waves of grain; those contented cows; those long straightaways; those 4H award winners at the fair; those friendly, neighborly, _folksy_ folks… just… exactly… Once. Too. Often. …and they reach the conclusion that they must bring maximum evil and chaos into this world. Does not make this any less horrifying. What a piece of work is man, indeed… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/11 "2007-06-17T03:17:20Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] But, but…this is _Wisconsin_. Land of Milk and Honey. Garrison Keilor. Solid, boring, Middle America. Your turn in the barrel. [/QUOTE] :dubious: Home of Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer. We’ve had our fill, thanks. - FH, expatriate Cheesehead ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/12 "2007-06-17T04:17:47Z")
Is it the dairy-heavy diet? The cold, cold winters? Fireworks?\* This represents all I know about Wisconsin ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/13 "2007-06-17T04:59:08Z")
Yes, it’s the cheese. And the milk. And the beef. And all the other cow goodies that those saucy cattle refuse to bestow on us without a fight. We LOVE our cattle, and we LOVE our women, and, er, um, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/14 "2007-06-17T05:38:03Z")
Ahem. It’s the beer. Well, actually, if I recall correctly, we drink more brandy per capita than any other state… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-child-abduction-and-torture-in-portage/408241/15 "2007-06-17T11:21:56Z")
They determined the dead lady was strangled. They haven’t yet charged somebody, but I think it’s the boyfriend that will be tried for that. Is this story being shown in other states?