Teresa Marie “Teri” Pabst, 64, a White/Caucasian woman from Middleton, Wisconsin, was killed inside the home she shared with her husband, David Pabst, and their adult son in the Town of Middleton on the night of July 7, 2025. Investigators with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office concluded that Teri and David were fatally shot sometime after approximately 9:30 p.m.
David was a longtime Wisconsin State Patrol official who served as director of the Bureau of Transportation Safety, while Teri had worked in special education and as a paraeducator in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District.
The violence was not discovered until the following day. On the morning of July 8, Teri and David failed to arrive where family members expected them to be. Concerned, a relative went to the couple’s home at 8580 Stonebrook Circle to check on them. After entering the residence and finding both of them dead, the family member contacted 911. Dane County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at approximately 2:21 p.m. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the victims as Teresa and David Pabst. Although authorities believed the shootings occurred the previous night, both were formally pronounced dead at the scene on July 8.
Attention quickly turned to the couple’s 25-year-old son, James Pabst, who lived in the same home. Investigators learned that James had left shortly before deputies arrived and was driving a white Honda Accord. Authorities also had reason to believe he was armed. After examining evidence from the Middleton residence and later from the scene where James was located, and after interviewing relatives and friends, investigators determined that James had shot and killed both of his parents. The Dane County Sheriff’s Office said the handgun believed to have been used in the killings had been lawfully purchased by James.
There were also disturbing indications that people close to James had become concerned about him before authorities located him. His girlfriend, Sienna Lewis, later told reporters that James had made alarming comments about people dying and that he subsequently contacted her and said he had killed his parents. She contacted authorities, providing information that became part of the developing investigation and search for him. Investigators did not publicly establish a detailed motive explaining why Teri and David were targeted beyond the evidence pointing directly to their son.
At approximately 4:19 p.m. on July 8, Wisconsin State Patrol personnel located James traveling west on U.S. Highway 14 in Vernon County. The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop, and James initially pulled his vehicle over. When officers attempted to communicate with him, however, he closed his window and refused commands to leave the car. Law enforcement maintained a high-risk standoff while repeatedly attempting to obtain a response. After roughly an hour without further communication or visible movement, officers tactically approached the vehicle. James was found inside suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Because James Pabst died before he could be taken into custody, there was no arrest, criminal charging proceeding, trial, or conviction in the killings of Teri and David Pabst. Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said that, based on the evidence and interviews gathered by investigators, authorities believed James was responsible for both deaths and that the matter was no longer being treated as an active criminal investigation. Officials nevertheless continued working with the surviving Pabst family to establish as complete an account as possible of what happened inside the Stonebrook Circle home and to provide answers surrounding the deaths of Teri and her husband.
