Do you know who murdered Yvonne Menke?
On a cold December morning in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, the quiet of the pre-dawn hours was shattered by the sound of gunfire. It was December 12, 1985, and 45-year-old Caucasian female Yvonne Menke was leaving her apartment to warm up her car before heading to work. As she stepped into the building's stairwell around 6:25 a.m., she was ambushed and fatally shot three times in the head and neck with a. 22 caliber weapon. Her daughter, inside the apartment, heard the shots and witnessed a figure wearing a gray, three-quarter length coat and a dark stocking cap fleeing the scene. Yvonne's body was discovered at the bottom of the exterior stairs, and for nearly four decades, the identity of her killer remained a painful mystery for her family and the small community.
The investigation in the immediate aftermath pointed towards a tangled and emotional motive of romantic jealousy. Authorities learned that Yvonne Menke had been involved in a love triangle with a local man named Jack Owen and another woman, Mary Josephine Bailey. Friends and witnesses told investigators that Bailey was possessive and did not want other women around Owen. In the days following the murder, investigators found compelling evidence, including boot prints left in the snow near the crime scene. The prints had a distinctive "Arctic" imprint on the heel and matched a pair of boots later seized from Bailey's home. Despite this and other clues, such as phone records showing Bailey had called Menke multiple times, there was not enough evidence at the time to secure an arrest, and the case went cold.
Decades passed, but investigators did not give up. The Polk County Sheriff's Office revisited the cold case in 2021, re-interviewing witnesses and meticulously reviewing the original evidence. This renewed effort finally bore fruit. In November 2023, authorities in Maricopa County, Arizona, arrested 80-year-old Mary Josephine Bailey at her home in Apache Junction. After nearly 38 years, the prime suspect was in custody. Bailey was extradited to Wisconsin and charged with first-degree murder. In June 2024, a jury convicted her of killing Yvonne Menke. She was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, bringing a long-awaited, albeit bittersweet, sense of closure to Yvonne's four children and loved ones who had waited decades for justice.
