In the pre-dawn hours of Easter morning in 1994, the quiet of rural Jefferson, Wisconsin, was shattered by the sound of gunfire. Inside his home, Ruben Edward Borchardt, a 40-year-old White/Caucasian male and self-employed carpenter, was shot twice in the chest with a. 410 shotgun. His teenage son, Charles, was jolted awake by a loud bang and the smell of gunpowder. Rushing downstairs, he found his father gravely wounded but still conscious.
In his final moments, Ruben Borchardt managed to utter his disbelief, stating, "I can't believe she would do this to me" before succumbing to his injuries shortly after arriving at the hospital. The initial scene was staged to look like a burglary, with items strewn about and the phone line unplugged, but investigators would soon uncover a far more sinister plot born from a collapsing marriage.
At the time of his death, Ruben was entangled in a bitter and contentious divorce from his estranged wife, Diane Borchardt. The investigation, which was initially slow, eventually focused on Diane, a 45-year-old teacher's aide at Jefferson High School. The breakthrough came five months after the murder when an anonymous tipster informed police that Diane had attempted to recruit them to kill her husband. This led investigators to a trio of local teenagers she had successfully hired for the fatal task. The suspects were Douglas Vest Jr., 17, and Joshua Yanke, 16, both students at the high school where Diane worked, and Vest's 15-year-old cousin, Michael Maldonado, a high school dropout.
The subsequent investigation and trials revealed a shocking murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Diane Borchardt from her position at the school. She had promised the teenagers a share of her husband's life insurance money, offering $600 in cash upfront with the promise of $20,000, cars, and jewelry after Ruben's death. In September 1994, about six months after the murder, Diane Borchardt was arrested, along with the three teenagers she had manipulated. Douglas Vest confessed to his role and implicated Diane and the others. During the trials, it was revealed that one teen disconnected the phone while two others went to the basement to shoot Ruben.
Ultimately, Diane Borchardt was convicted of being a party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to life in prison. The three teenagers were also found guilty. Douglas Vest Jr. and Michael Maldonado received life sentences for their roles in carrying out the murder. Joshua Yanke, who pleaded no contest to a lesser charge, received a sentence of 18 years and was later paroled. Diane Borchardt has consistently maintained her innocence throughout her incarceration, though her appeals for a new trial have been denied.
