On the morning of October 11, 1976, in Madison, Wisconsin, 36-year-old Jeanette Louise Zapata saw her three children off to school from their home in the 5700 block of Indian Trace. This would be the last time her children would see her. Two days later, a coworker reported her missing when she failed to show up for her job as a flight instructor. At her home, investigators found her purse, money, new car, and clothing left behind, indicating she had not planned to leave.
The only item noted as missing from the residence was a. 30-06 rifle. Friends and family described Jeanette as a dedicated mother who would never have abandoned her children. At the time of her disappearance, she was going through a contentious divorce from her husband, Eugene "Gene" Zapata, and was in a new relationship. The divorce proceedings were bitter, and Jeanette had even sought a restraining order against her husband. The day she vanished, Jeanette had left a message for her attorney at 8:15 a.m. When her lawyer called back an hour later, it was Eugene who answered the phone, despite a court order prohibiting him from being at the house at that time.
For nearly three decades, the case of Jeanette Zapata's disappearance remained cold. The initial investigation stalled, and for years her children were told that their mother had abandoned them. However, in 2004, a friend of Jeanette's contacted the Madison Police Department to inquire about the status of the case, prompting them to reopen the investigation. This new inquiry determined that Jeanette had not used her Social Security number, renewed her pilot's license, or obtained a passport since 1976, leading investigators to conclude she was likely deceased. Detectives brought in cadaver dogs to search the home Jeanette and Eugene had shared, and the dogs detected the scent of human remains in the crawl space. The investigation into Eugene Zapata intensified as police uncovered more suspicious behavior. They learned he had hired a private detective to follow his wife a month before she went missing and had given conflicting statements about his whereabouts in the days after her disappearance. Further investigation revealed that after being questioned by police in 2005, Eugene, who had since remarried and moved to Nevada, cleaned out a storage locker. Cadaver dogs later indicated the scent of human remains in that locker as well.
In August 2006, Eugene Zapata was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of his wife. His trial in September 2007 ended in a hung jury after 30 hours of deliberation. However, in February 2008, to avoid a second trial, Eugene Zapata entered a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless homicide and finally confessed to what had happened more than 30 years earlier. He admitted that he and Jeanette had argued about their divorce, and in a moment of rage, he "snapped," striking her on the head with a paperweight and then strangling her. Eugene detailed how he initially buried her body in a rural area, later moved her remains to land he purchased in Juneau County, and then in 2001, transferred them to the storage locker. Finally, after police questioned him in 2005, he dismembered her remains and disposed of them in a dumpster at the Juneau County Landfill, which is why her body was never recovered. Eugene Zapata was sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison, in accordance with the laws in place in 1976. The case of Jeanette Zapata, a loving mother and accomplished pilot, is a somber story of a life cut short by domestic violence, and a decades-long search for answers that finally brought a painful truth to her family and friends.Last Seen: Oct 11, 1976
