Local News
#1 WIZM Story Of 2013
La Crosse’s biggest news story of 2013 was the sequel to one of the murder
cases that dominated local news the year before. Voted number 1 in our year-end balloting…the Jeffrey Lepsch murder trial. Lepsch was convicted of killing Paul and A-J Petras at their family business, May’s Photo on Main Street. The alleged motive…Lepsch robbed the store to get expensive cameras that he could sell to settle a huge debt. District attorney Tim Gruenke emphasized the robbery in his statements to the jury:
Little physical evidence put Lepsch at the crime scene, except for a palmprint on a glass case in the store. Judge Ramona Gonzalez ordered Lepsch to serve two life terms in prison.
The state crime lab found a handprint from Jeff Lepsch at the scene of a double murder in La Crosse.
A fingerprint expert from the lab, Karley Hujet, testifies at Lepsch’s murder trial that one print from Lepsch has been found on a glass case from May’s Photo in La Crosse. Lepsch is accused of killing Paul and A-J Petras at the photo store last fall, but he claims he never went to that shop. Earlier testimony today from another crime lab expert said no DNA from Lepsch could be found at the murder scene.
