Husband stabbed wife 50 times and called it suicide: cops

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

4 2 minutes read

Zachary Fritz faces a charge of first-degree criminal homicide after allegedly stabbing his wife 50 times and biting her face at their home in Shelby, Wisconsin. He claimed it was suicide. (Fritz: LaCrosse County Jail; screenshot: WXOW/YouTube)

A 36-year-old man allegedly stabbed his wife 50 times, bit her face and then told police she had killed herself, Wisconsin police said.

A criminal complaint filed in La Crosse County Circuit Court and obtained by several local media outlets says authorities went to a home in the town of Shelby for a call about a deceased person. Cops arrived and found Zachary Fritz at the front door covered in blood and yelling “she's upstairs,” the complaint allegedly said. They went upstairs and found the body of Fritz's wife holding a knife in her left hand in the master bedroom, with blood all around her.

Fritz then told cops he fell asleep, woke up to go to the bathroom and found her body, according to the affidavit. He allegedly claimed that his wife's stabbings had been inflicted on him. However, it appeared there was a fight in the bedroom, police reportedly said. The fact that medical examiners reportedly determined she suffered 50 stab wounds all over her body, including her back and hamstring, also doesn't help her case. She also reportedly suffered three bites to the face and blunt force injuries. A medical examiner reportedly determined the cause of death to be homicide due to multiple sharp and blunt force injuries.

Police say the couple's 4-year-old child was sleeping in the home at the time of the murder. When Fritz's father came to pick up the child and learned of his stepdaughter's death, he reportedly said something along the lines of “he killed her.”

Officers took Fritz to the La Crosse County Jail on a charge of first-degree criminal homicide, records show.

Read more from Law&Crime: 'He shot her in the face': Man executed newborn's mother, left baby with her body for an hour and claimed she killed herself

Prosecutors requested $1 million cash bail at his arraignment, according to local ABC affiliate WXOW.

“This is a situation where the defendant was found in the house covered in his wife's blood and stated that she had committed suicide,” said Assistant Prosecutor Andrew Burdick. “The stab wounds, the bite marks on her face, the blunt force trauma were not consistent with her self-inflicted injury.”

Prosecutors revealed during the arraignment that Fritz had previously been found not guilty by reason of mental illness for a domestic violence incident in 2009. The judge set bail at $1 million. Fritz's next court date is scheduled for June 19.

Lina Portman

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