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Remains found buried in yard

No crime, police say of jaw from old grave, miscarried baby

By JACQUELINE SEIBEL
jseibel@journalsentinel.com

Posted: June 20, 2007

Town of Oconomowoc - The remains of a miscarried baby and part of a century-old adult skull were discovered by a man digging in a yard, but authorities said Wednesday it appears no crime was committed.

Remains Found in Yard

Photo/William Meyer Town of Oconomowoc Police Chief James Wallis looks at the site Wednesday where a tub with human remains was found. Lenny Warren, who rents the property, made the discovery while moving a bush.

Photo/William Meyer Town of Oconomowoc Police Chief James Wallis (center) confers with Lenny Warren (left) and his cousin Kevin Brennan. Warren, who rents a home in the Town of Oconomowoc, was digging up an evergreen shrub when he found what appeared to be human remains.

Photo/William Meyer A.J. Marhofke, the owner of a cadaver dog named Zip, walks the property with Zip on Wednesday after remains were found. Nothing further turned up.

A note found in a metal tub indicated the baby was miscarried in 1975, Police Chief James Wallis said. He said the burial did not appear illegal.

And Town Chairman Robert Hultquist said he was told that a jawbone also found in the tub containing the remains came from a grave that was part of a cemetery removed from the property more than 100 years ago.

The bone had been left behind and discovered by the family that buried the baby, Hultquist said.

Lenny Warren - who has rented the home in the N60-W39600 block of Mary Lane since June 2 with his wife, Carol, and their two children - discovered the remains after removing an evergreen shrub that his American bulldog, Tehya, kept digging near in the front yard.

While digging, Lenny Warren said, he struck a metal tub. He said he removed the tub and found a piece of asphalt and plastic covering the top. He dumped out the tub and found the human remains in a plastic bag and the jawbone wrapped in aluminum foil. The jaw had five or six teeth, including a gold tooth, he said.

A tag on the plastic bag said "12th Stiemke baby miscarriage Aug. 24, 1975," said Carol Warren. The property is owned by Ken and Phyllis Stiemke, of the Town of Watertown. Warren said she knows the couple and told police the Stiemkes have 15 living children.

Police stopped the Stiemkes Wednesday afternoon after the couple drove by their rental property. The Stiemkes did not return a call seeking comment, and a pathologist's report on the remains was not released, by police order.

Wallis said police were called to the home at 8 p.m. Tuesday and returned to the scene Wednesday. They used cadaver dogs to search the property for more remains, but nothing else was found. Police and the dogs left the property by 2 p.m.

Lenny Warren said his family was so startled by the discovery that they will move out of the home as soon as possible.