The Mad City Murderer

Serial Killer

The Mad City Murderer and the Capital City Killings

The name "Mad City Murderer" is sometimes used for the unidentified killer believed to have been responsible for a series of murders and disappearances involving young women in and around Madison, Wisconsin. The cases are more commonly grouped under the names "Mad City Murders" or "Capital City Killings." The crimes stretched from the late 1960s into the early 1980s and created lasting fear around Madison and the University of Wisconsin community. Despite the serial-killer label, investigators have never established that one person committed all of the murders. The victims were killed in different ways, the crimes occurred years apart, and later researchers have suggested that several offenders may have been responsible. Some victims may have been attacked by the same killer, while others appear increasingly likely to have been separate crimes. No person has ever been convicted as the Mad City Murderer.

Victims Associated with the Mad City Murders

• Christine Rothschild — May 26, 1968 — University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, Madison, Wisconsin. The 18-year-old freshman was murdered beside Sterling Hall. She suffered numerous stab wounds and other injuries. Her murder remains unsolved.
• Debra Jayne Bennett — believed to have died on or shortly after July 8, 1976 — Madison/Cross Plains area, Dane County, Wisconsin. The 20-year-old was last seen in Madison on July 8. Her badly burned and decomposed body was discovered along Old Sauk Pass Road near Cross Plains on July 21, 1976. The exact medical date and cause of death could not be determined.
• Julie Ann Hall — June 17, 1978 — Waunakee area, Dane County, Wisconsin. The 18-year-old was last seen during the night of June 16. Her body was found in a shallow grave along Woodland Road on June 21. Medical findings indicated she had been dead approximately three to five days.
• Julie Speerschneider — exact date of death undetermined; disappeared March 27, 1979 — Madison and the town of Dunn, Wisconsin. The 20-year-old disappeared after leaving the 602 Club on University Avenue. Her skeletal remains were discovered near the Yahara River in April 1981. Decomposition prevented investigators from determining precisely when or how she died.
• Susan LeMahieu — exact date of death undetermined; disappeared December 15, 1979 — Madison, Wisconsin. The 24-year-old disappeared from Allen Hall. Her body was discovered near the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in April 1980. An autopsy determined that she had suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest.
• Shirley Stewart — exact date of death undetermined; disappeared January 2, 1980 — Madison/Westport area, Wisconsin. Stewart disappeared after leaving her job at the Dean Clinic. Her badly decomposed remains were discovered in a wooded area north of Madison in July 1981. Investigators could not establish an exact cause or date of death.
• Donna Mraz — July 2, 1982 — behind Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin. The 23-year-old University of Wisconsin student was repeatedly stabbed while walking home after working at a State Street restaurant. She died from her injuries and her murder remains an active unsolved homicide.

The Murder of Christine Rothschild

The case generally regarded as the beginning of the Mad City series occurred on May 26, 1968. Christine "Chris" Rothschild was an 18-year-old University of Wisconsin freshman from Chicago. She was an honors graduate who had arrived in Madison in 1967 and was preparing to complete her first year of college. Rothschild's body was discovered concealed near bushes outside Sterling Hall on the UW-Madison campus. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest and upper body. Investigators also found evidence that she had been struck and strangled. The intensity of the attack caused investigators to consider whether the killer knew her or had developed a particular fixation on her. Over the years, a former University of Wisconsin medical resident named Niels Bjorn Jorgensen became the focus of considerable suspicion among Rothschild's friends and later researchers. Rothschild's friend Linda Schulko maintained that Jorgensen had shown an unwanted interest in Christine before her murder. Author and former police officer Michael Arntfield later argued that Jorgensen was a strong suspect. Jorgensen denied killing Rothschild, however, and he was never charged. The official case remains unsolved, and UW-Madison police have continued seeking information about the murder decades later. ...

Confirmed Victims: (7)

Christine Rothschild Age: (18), Date of Death: 1968-05-25

Mad City: The True Story of the Campus Murders That America Forgot