Fredric Saecker

The Crime

Shortly after midnight on June 28, 1989, a 39-year-old woman wearing only her underwear and bra surprised an intruder in her kitchen in Bluff Siding, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community located across the Mississippi River about two miles from Winona, Minnesota. The man demanded money and then dragged her from the house.

The woman, identified as C.P., screamed and her husband was awakened by the commotion. He confronted the attacker in the driveway, but backed off when the attacker threatened to kill C.P. The husband went inside and called the police. When he came back outside, armed with a gun, his wife and the attacker were gone.

Police responding to a traffic accident report spotted C.P. walking along a road more than a mile from her home. She said she had been sexually assaulted and abandoned after she refused to cross the interstate or try to swim across the Mississippi River to Winona.

The Investigation

At about the same time, Gerald Stephan, a truck driver, was driving toward Winona when he saw 38-year-old Frederic Saecker walking along the highway. He gave Mr. Saecker a ride after Mr. Saecker said he was going to Winona. Mr. Stephan later said that as they were driving along, he saw C.P. sitting in a ditch. When he got to Winona, he reported his sighting to police.

Mr. Stephan dropped Mr. Saecker off near a motel where Mr. Saecker was living at that time, and went to a restaurant for coffee. Mr. Saecker later came into that restaurant. Witnesses later said he appeared to have blood on his shirt.

On June 29, police arrested Mr. Saecker and confiscated his clothing as well as other possessions from the motel room. He was charged with sexual assault, burglary, and kidnapping.

The Trial

In January 1990, Mr. Saecker went to trial in Buffalo County Circuit Court in Alma, Wisconsin. He had entered a plea of not guilty and a plea of not guilty by reason of a mental disease or defect.

C.P. testified that she had returned home from work shortly after 11 p.m. She said that sometime after midnight, while watching television in her underwear, she heard a noise in the kitchen. When she went to investigate, a man grabbed her and said, “I want your money, your T.V.’s and your VCR’s.”

C.P. said she screamed for her husband and the man punched her. She said she did not see his face. C.P. said the man grabbed her purse from a kitchen counter, pulled her out of the kitchen, and into the garage. She said the man dragged her into a neighbor’s driveway while holding her in a headlock.

C.P., who was 5 feet 1 inch tall, said that her eyes came to shoulder level of the attacker. She said that as the man dragged her down the neighbor’s driveway, he ripped off her bra. She said her husband then came out and the attacker yelled, “Get out of here or I’ll kill her right here.” She said the attacker then forced her across a highway, over a guardrail and into a swampy area. She said the man sexually assaulted her and allowed her to put her underwear back on. The man then pulled her along the highway, dragging her through the brush to hide from passing cars. She said they crossed a bridge and eventually stopped near a boat landing along the Mississippi River. There, he sexually assaulted her again.

She told the jury that the man then asked about the way to Winona and that he “wanted to take me across the interstate.” She said she convinced him that he would be caught if he tried to do so. She said he also talked of swimming across the river, but she told him that the channel was too deep, the current was too swift, and she could not swim. The man then ran away, saying that if she ran, he would kill her. She said she waited a while and then began walking home. She was two blocks from her house when a Buffalo County sheriff’s deputy found her.

C.P. testified that one of her eyes was swollen shut, a rib was broken, and she had numerous cuts and bruises. She went to a hospital where a rape kit was taken. She conceded she was unable to identify Mr. Saecker and that she had picked someone else out of a photographic lineup that had included Mr. Saecker’s photograph.

C.P.’s husband, R.P., testified that he was awakened by a scream and a crash, and went outside. He said the man yelled at him to “turn away or I’ll kill her, I want money.” He said he could not see the person clearly and returned to the house, called 911, and grabbed his gun. By the time he went back outside, he did not see or hear anything.

R.P. said the man was 5 feet 7 inches or 5 feet 8 inches tall. He said that he also had picked a man other than Mr. Saecker out of a photographic lineup.

Oral swabs, vaginal swabs, vaginal smears, and pubic hair specimens had been obtained from C.P. A crime lab analyst testified that semen was found in the vaginal swabs and smears, and in a stain in the underwear. Blood typing of the semen did not exclude Mr. Saecker, but it also did not exclude 85 percent of the male population, the analyst said. 

The analyst also testified that samples of Mr. Saecker’s pubic hair were consistent with two pubic hairs found on C.P. in color, intensity of pigment, density and distribution of pigment granules, and width of medulla and cuticle. The analyst also testified that the same conclusions could likely be made for other people in the courtroom.

Mr. Stephan testified that he was on Highway 35/54 when he stopped to pick up a man on foot, whom he identified as Mr. Saecker. Mr. Stephan said he picked up Mr. Saecker near the Cottonwood bar, which was about a mile and a half south of C.P.’s home.

Mr. Stephan said Mr. Saecker “seemed awful jumpy and nervous” as if he were “high” on something. Mr. Stephan said Mr. Saecker was wearing a white sport shirt containing “a couple dozen” “dark spots,” which appeared to be blood.

Mr. Stephan said Mr. Saecker also appeared to have “a little bit” of blood on his right hand. Mr. Stephan said Mr. Saecker said he was coming from a bar, and that he had “gotten away” from the Alma police department after he had been stopped for drunken driving and disorderly conduct.

Shortly after picking up Mr. Saecker, Mr. Stephan said he noticed a “female sitting down in the ditch” along the highway. He said he was going too fast to stop his truck, so he continued into Winona and reported the sighting to police.

Mr. Stephan said he pulled his truck into the Happy Chef restaurant in Winona for coffee. Mr. Saecker said he was going to his nearby motel room for some money and would be back for something to eat. Mr. Stephan said he saw Mr. Saecker enter a room at the El Rancho motel and later come into the restaurant wearing the same clothes. Mr. Stephan said Mr. Saecker sat nearby and began talking to people around him.

Those who had been in the Winona County Jail with Mr. Saecker after he was first arrested testified that Mr. Saecker made several incriminating statements. 

A Buffalo County sheriff’s deputy and another officer testified that shortly before trial, Mr. Saecker admitted to raping C.P.

The defense called Ambrose Schwartz, the former owner of the 4 Mile Gentlemen’s Club, which was located on the same highway where Mr. Stephan picked up Mr. Saecker. Mr. Schwartz testified that sometime between 12:45 and 1:15 a.m. on June 28, 1989, as he was driving south on Highway 35/54 toward the 4 Mile Club, he saw Mr. Saecker walking north along the highway, approximately three or four blocks north of the club. 

Mr. Saecker testified and denied committing the crime. He said he was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds. He testified that the day before the attack, he was arrested for drunken driving on Highway 35/54 near the bridge into Winona.

He said that after he got out of jail, he got a ride to his car, and then drove to his mother’s house in Winona, where he left it. He said he then got a ride to the El Rancho motel, where he was staying. He said he later took a cab to the 4 Mile Gentlemen’s Club, and stayed there between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. on June 28. He said he was walking back to the El Rancho motel when the truck driver gave him a ride to the Happy Chef restaurant in Winona.

He denied that he had blood on his shirt or hands when given a ride by Mr. Stephan.

Dr. Albert Lorenz, a psychiatrist, testified that he had diagnosed Mr. Saecker as suffering from a mental illness called organic delusional syndrome. Dr. Paul Caillier, a clinical psychologist, testified that Mr. Saecker was a paranoid schizophrenic. Dr. Caillier testified that alcohol could aggravate schizophrenic symptoms.

The trial judge, Gary B. Schlosstein, declined to allow Dr. Caillier to testify about the reliability of Mr. Saecker’s statements in the jail. Judge Schlosstein said that if he allowed the testimony, the prosecution would want to respond, which would cause a delay that he did not want to grant.

On Jan. 4, 1990, the jury convicted Mr. Saecker of second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping, and burglary. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In January 1991, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Saecker’s convictions.

The Exoneration

In 1993, Mr. Saecker’s mother paid for DNA testing by Genetic Designs, a private laboratory in North Carolina. The tests concluded that Mr. Saecker was not the source of the semen found in the C.P.’s underwear.

Mr. Saecker’s defense filed a post-conviction petition for a new trial based on the DNA test results, and in 1995, he was granted a new trial. 

The prosecution appealed. In August 1995, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the trial court ruling, saying, “The weak identification testimony coupled with the DNA evidence provides a reasonable probability that retrial will produce a different result.”

On Oct. 24, 1996, the prosecution dismissed the charges.

In 2001, the State of Wisconsin Claims Board awarded Mr. Saecker $45,000 in compensation for legal fees and time in prison.