Ex-cop pleads guilty to murdering Oregon woman found in suitcase

A former Wisconsin police officer accused of killing an OR woman and another from Minnesota and ditching their bodies in suitcases along a highway is set to stand trial this week in the first woman’s death.

Zelich pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree intentional homicide as well as hiding a corpse. Yahoo News reported, they played sexual games in which he would choke Gamez and ends up killing her when he lost control.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previously reported Zelich is a licensed private security officer who resigned from the West Allis police department in 2001. Gamez’s body, as well as the body of 37-year-old Laura Simonson of Minnesota, were found stuffed into suitcases that had been left along a highway in Walworth County.

A judge ruled last week that jurors could hear testimony from a former police officer regarding a Minnesota case in which Zelich is also accused of causing a woman’s death.

Kenosha County Deputy District Attorney Michael Graveley said he would seek the maximum 75-year term, which includes at least 55 years in prison and 20 years extended supervision.

FILE – This undated photo provided by Lorraine Eriksen shows Jenny Gamez from Cottage Grove, Oregon. According to court documents, Zelich said he met her online and killed her while playing the same choking game at a hotel in Rochester, Minnesota.

In both cases, Zelich claimed the women’s deaths were accidental.

Simonson died under similar circumstances in November 2013. They say he put both bodies in suitcases in the trunk of his vehicle and later dumped them in southern Wisconsin.

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