It's Wayne Mauser.
Local News.
Good morning.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
A Fond du Lac man is facing a felony stalking charge in Dane County after an alleged decade-long pattern of obsessive harassment culminated in a police search of his home where investigators uncovered human skulls, serial killer memorabilia, and detailed journals describing stalking behaviors.
The Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office said a search warrant was carried out August 14th when detectives from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office
assisted Madison Police Department investigators in serving a search warrant connected to a Madison PD stalking investigation.
The warrant was executed at the suspect's home in rural Fond du Lac County.
47-year-old Benjamin Larson is charged with one count of stalking a class A felony.
According to a criminal complaint filed on August 18, 2026, the charge stems from conduct directed at a Madison woman between June of 2013 and July of 2026.
If convicted, Larson faces up to three years and six months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The Sheriff's Office said it's working with a forensic anthropologist affiliated with the Wisconsin Crime Lab, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Wisconsin Intertribal Repatriation Committee, and specialized
laboratories to determine whether the remains are authentic and whether they are modern era remains or archaeological Native American remains.
The Sheriff's Office said the forensic anthropologists initial physical examination determined that many of the remains are likely ancient Native American in origin.
However, several of the skeletal remains require specialized forensic testing at a laboratory to determine their origin.
The 21-year-old Campbellsport man suspected of driving under the influence and causing a fatal two-vehicle crash was arraigned in Fond du Laing County Court on Tuesday.
Dakota Krieger pled not guilty to the
six charges he's facing, which include homicide by the intoxicated use of a vehicle and two counts of causing injury operating while under the influence.
The accident on June 21st occurred at the intersection of County Highway V and Mill Pond Road.
Krieger allegedly failed to yield the right-of-way at the intersection, pulling into the path of a vehicle being driven by a 68-year-old Kiwaska woman.
The woman died at St.
Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac.
Krieger and a passenger in each of the vehicles were in
According to the criminal complaint, he told police he had been drinking the night before but stopped at 6 p.m.
A passenger in his vehicle said Krieger had been drinking as late as 4 a.m.
the morning of the crash.
A status conference is scheduled in the case on December 7th.
The Boys and Girls Club of the Troy County area will host their third annual Arts and Crafts fundraiser next month.
Bob Nelson has the story for Civic Media News.
It will be held at the Knuth Brewing Company in Ripon on Thursday, September 17, with registration at 5 p.m.
and the event beginning at 6 p.m.
14 area youth will be paired with local artists to produce pieces for the event.
Cassidy Walters of the club says those pieces will be auctioned off.
It's really cool to see the kids' faces light up.
They're like, whoa, people want my art.
I think that's so cool.
There will be heavy appetizers, craft cocktails, and live music.
The presenting sponsor is Alliance Laundry Systems.
Betsy Heffernan of Alliance says they have 2,000 employees and the Boys and Girls Club supports the development
The Boys and Girls Club supports
our families.
They support the children.
of our employees.
Tickets for arts and crafts are $50 and are available through the club's Facebook page and website.
I'm Bob Nelson for Civic Media News.
Columbia County Sheriff's officials have identified the Beaver Dam man who died on August 13th at the county jail in Portage.
Walter Stanley died after being found unresponsive in his cell.
Officials say he was arrested the morning of Thursday, August 13th on an impaired driving charge.
He died
after 8 a.m.
that same morning.
An autopsy was performed at the University of Wisconsin hospitals the following day.
Officials are awaiting toxicology results to determine an official cause of death.
The Columbia County Sheriff's Office requested an outside agency to investigate the death, which is consistent with Wisconsin law during an inmate death investigation.
Salk County Sheriff's Office detectives will investigate Stanley's death.
The Rippin Common Council this week approved bull hunting for nuisance deer in the city for Team Rippin.
Over the past 19 years, the team has harvested 222 deer.
Team members need to get the permission of landowners to hunt on their land.
City Administrator Adam Sontag said they received more complaints this year about the damage the deer have done.
Team Rippin is able to hunt from September through February.
Meanwhile, the city of Marquesanne is looking to develop a similar program.
They'll hold a nuisance deer
reduction hunt meeting on Tuesday, September 8th at 6 p.m.
in the Marcus Anne City Hall community room.
All Marcus Anne property owners are welcome to share their thoughts both for and against the hunt.
A brand new event hosted by Ripon Parks and Recreation Department and the Ripon Police Department will be held Saturday at Selfridge Park.
The grand opening tomorrow for the improvements to the park will be held from 9 until 10.30 a.m.
with family-friendly games.
Then the inaugural COPS and Bobbers Youth Fishing event will be held from 10.30 a.m.
until 12.30 p.m.
It will team up kids from 5 to 13 years old with police officers.
There is no cost.
Parents should accompany their kids.
and Recreation Director Ashton Zien says each registered child will get a fishing kit, a hot dog lunch, and there will be prizes and awards.
Check-in for the event is from 9.45 until 10.30 at the Park Pavilion.
You can register the day of the event or online at ripenrecdesk.com.
Zien says Cops and Bobbers is a hands-on youth fishing event that brings kids and local police officers together for a fun day at the pond.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media
News.
Jacobs was arrested in May on suspicion of domestic abuse, but at the time the Brown County district attorney withheld a decision on charging Jacobs pending further investigation.
Jacobs was released from the Brown County jail following the arrest.
He is charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property following a domestic dispute at his village of Hobart home on May 23rd.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gudekunst said on Wednesday the team was preparing for any possibility with uncertainty.
surrounding Jacob's status.
I'm
Melissa Kaye, Civic Media News.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
tonight.
The Bear Boo Police Department is investigating a shooting that happened during an attempted armed robbery Wednesday night.
Bear Boo Police Chief Justin Carloni spoke with Civic Media about the incident.
We did have a shooting during an attempt robbery that occurred in 200 Block Fourth Avenue.
It appears that it was narcotics related.
Police say a 23-year-old man had set up a meeting with two people for a suspected drug deal.
Two masked suspects allegedly tried to rob the victim at gunpoint with one of the suspects shooting him.
The victim was taken to the hospital for his injuries and is expected to recover.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Baraboo Police Department.
Fond du Lac County Sheriff's deputies say they found human remains in a rural Fond du Lac home.
According to the Sheriff's Office, investigators found human skulls, skeletal remains, and memorabilia related to serial killers while executing a warrant at the home last month.
47-year-old Benjamin Larson was charged with stalking in Ding County Court on August 18th after a Madison-area woman reported being harassed by him for more than a decade.
When authorities searched Larson's home, the criminal complaint says they found items allegedly from Ed Gein's grave.
a jar labeled as containing a piece of John Wayne Gacy's brain and other bottles labeled as poison.
Detectives are working with the forensic anthropologist to determine whether the remains are real.
An initial exam indicated many of the remains are likely ancient Native American in origin.
Baraboo police are asking for your help after a shooting there Wednesday night.
Police say the shooting happened during a suspected drug deal.
They say a 23-year-old man set up a meeting with two people who showed up wearing masks and tried to rob him at gunpoint.
One of the suspects shot the victim, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Baraboo police chief Justin Carloni is asking anyone who may know something about this incident to let police know.
And we're looking for any help from the public that might have additional outside information that might help us strengthen our case and provide additional insight into this investigation.
Police say the shooting was isolated to the alleged drug deal and there's no danger to the public.
Anyone with information can call the Bear Boo Police non-emergency line.
Law enforcement in the Fox Valley are investigating after a man's body was found in the Fox River yesterday.
Out of Gamey County Sheriff's deputies say they found the body in the village of Kimberley near Sunset Park just before noon yesterday.
They say there's no indication of foul play and the investigation is ongoing.
And that's your state news update.
I'm Connie Falmon for Civic Media News.
Packers football tonight.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports in Green Bay where the Packers play their final preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The last chance for players like receiver Will Shepherd to make the team.
Shepherd had six catches for 47 yards and a touchdown last week in Denver.
Can he do it again tonight?
Yeah, definitely gonna go out there and do my job and whatever plays kind of mean.
Make the most of it.
Baseball, the Brewers opening a weekend series tonight at Amfam Field against the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers in second place in the
a game behind the Astros.
The Brewers, with an 8-2 win last night over the Mets in New York, Jacob Mizorowski could have called it a night after five complete innings, but told Pat Murphy
he wanted more.
That's right.
Well, that's what makes Miz special.
He wanted that.
Not ideal conditions.
He could be thinking about other stuff, but he was focused on one thing.
He was focused on helping this team.
He knew what it was.
I gave him the option.
I said, hey man, you okay?
We're at the top of the order.
He goes, I want it.
That's the Brewers
manager, Pat Murphy, with sports.
I'm Mike Clemens.
Plenty of sunshine today.
We'll get to 78 for a high this afternoon.
Tonight partly cloudy, low of 64.
Tomorrow partly cloudy with a few scattered showers and a high in the mid to upper 70s.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Local news, local sports and local people you know.
Your hometown station 93.1 and AM 1600 The Wave.
Joining us on this Friday morning.
We have Matt Bandicoke who is the chief deputy for the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Thanks for joining us Matt.
Yeah,
good morning,
Bob.
It's great to be here.
Yeah Quite a few things that we have on our
List for talking about today, first of all, Greenland County Fair was last week.
No, it was beginning August ready.
It's been a couple of three weeks ago already.
Wow.
Yeah, we've been busy in August.
It kind of flew by, started with the fair.
We had some other community events even before that.
But great time at the fair.
Good turnout.
We had some really nice weather this year.
It wasn't too hot.
And so we had the Sheriff's Office staff and crime stoppers there at the fair for the entire fair.
And it was great to see the community get out and have conversations with folks and just kind of share what's going on at the Sheriff's Office.
And here are their concerns and issues too.
And always a great event, the Greenland County Fair.
And didn't disappoint this year.
And the weather was fantastic.
So it was good.
Now, on the other hand, for the first responder community event,
Yeah, you had a tornado or yeah,
right.
Yeah, that was in Princeton this year Princeton Police Department was the host and Chief Barton Kwas got everything set up there in Princeton and Lo and behold moments before the event was set to start We started receiving severe weather alerts that actually came all the way to a tornado warning and I'm sure most of the community remembers that and so we kind of packed everything up and hunkered down and Waited for the storm to pass
and once the storm passed we got all set back up and I tell you what kudos to the community they really came out even after the storm and it was a great time again a lot of fun talking with kids handing out trinkets and just engaging with the community once again you know hearing what they had to say about what's going on in our community and getting some real positive feedback too and you know I brought this up many times on your show and
how often we lose sight of all that positive feedback that we do get.
You know, sometimes that the vocal minority makes a lot of noise and
a lot of hubbub, let's just say maybe for a politically correct word.
And the reality is there's a lot of folks in our community that really support us.
The same on the national media scene, you know, we see all kinds of concerns about police and things like that and a certain narrative that sometimes gets pushed in that realm.
And the reality here in Greenlight County is we have a wonderful community that truly supports us and we've got a great relationship going on there and we're going to do
everything we can to continue that.
So these these community events really reinforce that.
And for some of us, you know, patrol staff, whomever communications corrections folks wrote at the first responder community event, it was great to get them out there too and really engage with community.
They don't always get to do that.
And there's such a critical piece to everything we do.
And it's great for them to have that positive experience too.
So
just important for us, you know, as a staff to recognize that, but also great for the community, I think, to have those opportunities to engage.
So, thankful for that, that we had that weather clear and that everybody did come out and join us for that.
So, I think we served over 400 according to Chief Bargenquass, so.
Great event, great turn
off.
Now another event that was held in a lot of law enforcement agencies participate in this is the police lights of Christmas.
Now that was a fundraiser.
Right.
Yeah, police lights
at Christmas does a fundraiser in the summer and cops at Culver's is what they call it.
So we partnered with Ripon Police Department and we did that as well last year and we just get out there and serve meals, greet people at Culver's, things like that and just have a presence there.
Again, engaging with the community and just having a great time in that regard.
All the while raising some funds for police lights at Christmas.
Those come back to the police agencies and the
a manner of gift cards and such.
And those then go out to community members who might be in need, you know, in certain circumstances, maybe a victim of a crime or maybe somebody that's involved in a car crash and needs a hot meal or something like that.
We're going to get those gift cards out to them and make sure that they're taken care of.
We had somebody last year, a community member victim of a fire.
They lost a lot of stuff.
And that was one specifically I can think of where police lights at Christmas really came in big.
and help that family out.
So a great charity and an honor to be part of that and always great to partner with Ripon Police Department, a great relationship between the two agencies there and something again that we're going to continue on as long as possible.
Good folks at both agencies.
Okay, moving on.
You had an emergency management disaster drill.
Was that yesterday?
Wednesday, actually.
Wednesday.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so our emergency management director, Dave Cornius, along with his deputy, Gary Puddle, uh, they set up an emergency management disaster drill and nature of the drill was a severe weather event in the Greenlight Conference Center.
Um, this was, has been planned for, you know,
probably close to a year prior to the event.
So there's, you know, different meetings that occur and they talk about the response and what entities are going to be part of the drill and things like that.
And, you know, in some ways it was eerily similar on a much smaller scale as a drill to the Menasha situation.
So I think with that context, it was
It was very real for a lot of the participants.
You know, we had folks from everywhere from, you know, fire departments in Berlin, Green Lake, Alliance Energy, Department of Public Works, the Highway Department, Public Health, County Manager.
County County Board chair all those folks participated in the event in the drill and It gave them a real good taste of what those kind of events are like some good practice And as with any drill we have some learning opportunities and we're gonna critique the drill here in the coming weeks We're gonna go over it and see if there's any places where we can improve our response and and learn from the activities of the drill so a big you know
Big shout out, I guess, to Gary Paddoll, Deputy Director, and Dave Croninus, Emergency Management Director, for setting up a good event.
Also, I got to commend to All Saints School, participated as well.
They were the reunification center for part of the drill.
And as such, they had a ton of volunteers.
My understanding, I didn't get there personally, but was informed there were a ton of volunteers that participated in the reunification portion, which is an important piece when it comes to, you know, child-related disasters.
Quite often we use that reunification system in the context of an active shooter circumstance.
But in this circumstance, it was used, you know, in relation to a severe weather event that displaced campers at the Greenland Conference Center.
It was a good practice run for them and public health and all their participants as well.
So great collaboration amongst all those involved and just a really well done drill.
And again, we're gonna learn from some things there and we're gonna do better going forward and we're gonna continue to practice and make sure that we're ready for the worst of the worst.
You know, you gotta be prepared for those low probability but high stress situations, right?
And those are the ones that you need to be.
the best trained for.
If you can handle those circumstances, your agencies are going to be in the best possible situation.
Well, some students are back at school already others are returning next week I imagine you have maybe some safety tips when it comes to driving and watching out for the school buses and
kids.
Yeah, absolutely Yeah, schools gonna be back in session for some it maybe is already but obviously September 1st is kind of that magic date now in, Wisconsin and You know traffic safety wise safe routes to school, you know when you get make sure that you've got safe routes for your children get to school and then as a
motorists on the roadways, being careful in those school zones, paying attention for the school buses.
You know, another thing too, this morning we had some thick fog.
This time of year, for whatever reason, well, it's climatology and I'm sure the meteorologist can tell me more specifically why it happens in the spring and fall.
There's more fog.
There's lower visibility circumstances.
So just be aware of those circumstances and travel safely and recognize that there's going to be kids going to and from school in the morning and afternoon.
You know, it's a change.
Summertime is nice, but we get back to the rhythm of the school year and everybody gets back into those routines and just a reminder to be safe out there and be looking for those school buses and school children to and from school.
Yeah instant reminder for me this morning on the way to work and in the other lane There was a school bus stopping at a railroad crossing.
I
don't think they actually had any students on it But right
they have to do that right required as that type of vehicles required to stop at all the railroad crossing So yeah, you're gonna see that and you know, it's it starts with for me It starts with the fare actually, you know the beginning of our talk
You know, once the fair rolls around, it's like, well, we're winding summer down, you know, and it won't be long and school starts.
And sure enough, here we are on school starts next week.
And everybody will be back at it in that light and we'll have fall sports.
That's already going, right?
We've got the football schedule going on and all that.
So that's fun too, right?
Fall is fun.
And looking forward to that, but going to miss summer as well.
Matt, thank you for joining us this morning.
I appreciate your time.
Always a pleasure.
Great to see you, Bob.
And we've been talking with Matt Van Nicole, who is the Chief Deputy for the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Joining us on this Friday morning, we have Matt Bandicoke, who is the Chief Deputy for the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Thanks for joining us, Matt.
Yeah, good morning, Bob.
It was great to be here.
Yeah.
Quite a few things that we have on our list for talking about today.
First of all, Green Lake County Fair was last week.
No,
it was beginning August ready.
It's been a couple three weeks ago already.
Wow.
Yeah, we've been busy in August.
It kind of flew by, started with the fair.
We had some other community events even before that.
But great time at the fair.
Good turnout.
We had some really nice weather this year.
It wasn't too hot.
And so we had the Sheriff's Office staff and crime stoppers there at the fair for the entire fair.
And it was great to see the community get out and have conversations with folks and just kind of share what's going on at the Sheriff's Office.
And here are their concerns and issues too.
And always a great event, the Greenland County Fair, and didn't disappoint this year.
And the weather was fantastic.
So it was good.
Now, on the other hand, for the first responder community event...
You had a tornado warning.
Yeah,
right.
Yeah, that was in Princeton this year Princeton Police Department was the host and Chief Barnclas got everything set up there in Princeton and lo and behold moments before the event was set to start We started receiving severe weather alerts that actually came all the way to a tornado warning and I'm sure most of the community remembers that and so we kind of packed everything up and hunkered down and Waited for the storm to pass
and once the storm passed we got all set back up and I tell you what kudos to the community they really came out even after the storm and it was a great time again a lot of fun talking with kids handing out trinkets and just engaging with the community once again you know hearing what they had to say about what's going on in our community and getting some real positive feedback too and you know I brought this up many times on your show and how often we
Loose sight of all that positive Feedback that we do get you know sometimes that that vocal minority makes a lot of noise and
a lot of hubbub let's just say maybe for a politically correct word and and the reality is there's a lot of folks in our community that really support us the same on the national media scene you know we see all kinds of concerns about police and things like that and a certain narrative that sometimes gets pushed in that realm and the reality here in Greenleigh County is we have a wonderful community that truly supports us and we've got a great relationship going on there and we're going to do
everything we can to continue that.
So these these community events really reinforce that.
And for some of us, you know, patrol staff, whomever communications corrections folks wrote at the first responder community event, it was great to get them out there too and really engage with community.
They don't always get to do that.
And they're such a critical piece to everything we do.
And it's great for them to have that positive experience too.
So
just important for us, you know, as a staff to recognize that, but also great for the community, I think, to have those opportunities to engage.
So, thankful for that, that we had that weather clear and that everybody did come out and join us for that.
So, I think we served over 400 according to Chief Bargenquass, so.
Great event, great
turn-off.
Now another event that was held in a lot of law enforcement agencies participate in this is the police lights of Christmas.
Now that was a fundraiser.
Right.
Yeah, police lights
at Christmas does a fundraiser in the summer and cops at Culver's is what they call it.
So we partnered with Ripon Police Department and we did that as well last year and we just get out there and serve meals, greet people at Culver's, things like that and just have a presence there.
Again, engaging with the community and just having a great time in that regard.
All the while raising some funds for police lights at Christmas.
Those come back to the police agencies and the
a manner of gift cards and such.
And those then go out to community members who might be in need, you know, in certain circumstances, maybe a victim of a crime or maybe somebody that's involved in a car crash and needs a hot meal or something like that.
We're going to get those gift cards out to them and make sure that they're taken care of.
We had somebody last year, a community member victim of a fire.
They lost a lot of stuff.
And that was one specifically I can think of where police lights at Christmas really came in big.
and help that family out.
So a great charity and an honor to be part of that and always great to partner with Ripon Police Department, a great relationship between the two agencies there and something again that we're going to continue on as long as possible.
Good folks at both agencies.
Okay, moving on.
You had an emergency management disaster drill.
Was that yesterday?
Wednesday, actually.
Wednesday.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so our emergency management director, Dave Cornelius, along with his deputy, Gary Puddle, uh, they set up an emergency management disaster drill and nature of the drill was a severe weather event in the Greenlight Conference Center.
Um, this was, has been planned for, you know,
probably close to a year prior to the event.
So there's, you know, different meetings that occur and they talk about the response and what entities are going to be part of the drill and things like that.
And, you know, in some ways it was eerily similar on a much smaller scale as a drill to the Menasha situation.
So I think with that context, it was
It was very real for a lot of the participants.
You know, we had folks from everywhere from, you know, fire departments in Berlin, Green Lake, Alliance Energy, Department of Public Works, the Highway Department, Public Health, County Manager.
County Board Chair, all those folks participated in the event and the drill.
And it gave them a real good taste of what those kind of events are like, some good practice.
And as with any drill, we have some learning opportunities and we're going to critique the drill here in the coming weeks.
We're going to go over it and see if there's any places where we can improve our response and learn from the activities of the drill.
So a big, you know,
Big shout out, I guess, to Gary Paddoll, Deputy Director, and Dave Croninus, the Emergency Management Director, for setting up a good event.
Also, I got to commend to All Saints School, participated as well.
They were the reunification center for part of the drill.
And as such, they had a ton of volunteers.
My understanding, I didn't get there personally, but was informed there were a ton of volunteers that participated in the reunification portion, which is an important piece when it comes to child-related disasters.
Quite often we use that reunification system in the context of an active shooter circumstance.
But in this circumstance, it was used in relation to a severe weather event that displaced campers at the Greenland Conference Center.
It was a good practice run for them and public health and all their participants as well.
So great collaboration amongst all those involved and just a really well done drill.
And again, we're gonna learn from some things there and we're gonna do better going forward and we're gonna continue to practice and make sure that we're ready for the worst of the worst.
You gotta be prepared for those low probability but high stress situations, right?
And those are the ones that you need to be...
the best trained for.
If you can handle those circumstances, your your agencies are going to be in the best possible situation.
Well, some students are back at school already others are returning next week I imagine you have maybe some safety tips when it comes to driving and watching out for the school buses and
kids.
Yeah, absolutely Yeah, schools gonna be back in session for some it maybe is already but obviously September 1st is kind of that magic date now in, Wisconsin and You know traffic safety wise safe routes to school, you know when you get make sure that you've got safe routes for your children get to school and then as a
motorists on the roadways being careful in those school zones, paying attention for the school buses.
And another thing too, this morning we had some thick fog.
This time of year for whatever reason, well, it's climatology and I'm sure the meteorologist can tell me more specifically why it happens in the spring and fall.
There's more fog.
There's lower visibility circumstances.
So just be aware of those circumstances and travel safely and recognize that there's going to be kids going to and from school in the morning and afternoon.
You know, it's a change.
Summertime is nice, but we get back to the rhythm of the school year and everybody gets back into those routines and just a reminder to be safe out there and be looking for those school buses and school children to and from school.
Yeah instant reminder for me this morning on the way to work and in the other lane There was a school bus stopping at a railroad crossing.
I
don't think they actually had any students on it But
right they have to do that right required as that type of vehicles required to stop at all the railroad crossing So yeah, you're gonna see that and you know, it's it starts with for me It starts with the fare actually, you know the beginning of our talk is
You know, once the fair rolls around, it's like, well, we're winding summer down, you know, and it won't be long in school starts.
And sure enough, here we are on school starts next week.
And everybody will be back at it in that light and we'll have fall sports.
That's already going right.
We've got the football schedule going on and all that.
So that's fun too, right?
Falls fun.
And looking forward to that, but going to miss summer as
well.
Matt, thank you for joining us this morning.
Appreciate your time.
Always a pleasure.
Great to see you, Bob.
And we've been talking with Matt Van Nicole, who is the Chief Deputy for the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office.