The Killer Beside Me

I think people were devastated.

This was a 22-year-old girl with a whole life ahead of her.

Well, the autopsy indicated there were,

I believe it was around 56 or so stab wounds.

Get off me, you creep!

Yeah, the brutality is just...

Insane.

His name was number one on my list.

Theresa was a hard worker.

She would get up in the morning,

Go to her part-time job at a cousins submarine shop.

At the sub shop, people came in there as regulars.

She'd have their order ready for them as they walked in the door.

People got the biggest kick out of that,

That they didn't have to stand in line

For 20 minutes or something.

I don't remember any of their names 'cause it's been,

You know, 25 years, but we had a ups guy that,

As soon as you seen the big brown truck pulling up,

She made sure she had his sub and soup ready when he came in.

You know, half the time,

He wasn't even walking through the door

And the tray was sitting out there waiting for him.

And, you know, it's places like that

That, you know, you kind of feel warm.

That's why you keep coming every day.

Even if she had a crappy day, always smiled.

What can I get you?

She'd work that until 2:00 in the afternoon,

And she'd go home quick, change clothes,

And go to her full-time job,

Which she started at 3:00 and worked until 11:00.

I worked with theresa

At stone container in germantown, wisconsin.

We worked together for about five years.

She was a go-getter.

At the age of 10, the neighbors wanted her

To start babysitting for their kids.

She loved people.

She talked to anybody and everybody.

Hey.

She figured if she talked to everybody,

It would be a more happier atmosphere

If you're friends with the people you work with.

Thanks.

Guys, delivery's here.

She had boughten her first car at the age of 16.

She bought her own home at the age of 201/2.

And that was of her money.

I think what drove her is she liked having her own stuff,

And she always liked, you know, good stuff, new stuff.

She never asked anybody for help.

She was independent for herself.

She wanted to just have the financial freedom

When she got older.

Growing up, there was people in the neighborhood that,

You know, lived day to day, check to check and just...

She didn't want to have any of that struggles.

We were very proud of her.

See you later, brenda.

Hey, tony.

Free lunch.

When she bought her house, she had two full-time jobs,

And then she got a dog, and she just realized

She couldn't handle it all on her own.

So she asked if I could move in with her

And help her run the house and help with the dog.

She worked first shift and second shift, so it helped out.

The time that we got to spend together was always a good time.

During the day, we didn't have much time to communicate.

Bye, tony.

I was not exactly like her --

We could say.

Don't forget to walk the dog.

She was very lovable.

We hung out probably five out of seven days,

Couple hours after school,

Usually hang out on the weekends.

She has a lot of friends.

There was a lot of them I didn't know 'cause

I'd say she was like eight years younger than me.

She knew a lot of my friends.

When she turned 21, she'd always come out with us.

There was a lot of jealousy.

A lot of people were jealous

'cause at, you know, 22, she had her own house, new car.

You know, but she worked two full-time jobs.

Usually, if people work a job, you know,

They're always tired and cranky, and she really wasn't.

Always upbeat, always tries to help and...

Just there when people needed her.

She only lived a couple blocks from here,

So if she needed help with anything or any kind of repair,

She could holler, "dad!"

And he was there to help her.

She didn't want no trouble.

She just wanted to live and have fun.

I actually knew theresa before I had worked with her.

She used to be one of my brother-in-law's best friends,

So I actually knew

Theresa when she was like 11, 12 years old, 13 years old.

So I've known her for a long time.

I loved theresa.

She was such a good friend of mine.

She was more accomplished at 22 than people are in their 40s.

I mean, this girl was very driven.

How are you guys? Good?

Busy? How are you?

Yeah, not bad. Thanks.

She was like one of the guys.

You could talk -- anybody could talk to her.

Better go, so... I'm a bit late.

I actually came into work and she was just coming out.

Hey. How are you, babes?

You okay?

She used to always call me "babes,"

And I called her "smurf"

Because she was such a small, short girl.

And I'd go, "hey, smurf, how are you?"

And she says, "good, babes. How are you?"

And I says, "when you coming back to third shift?"

And she says, "I know, but with all these two-full time jobs...

I want to.

I would rather be with third shift,

But, you know, right now, I can't."

And I says, "well, hurry up and get back 'cause we miss you."

And she goes, "I love you," and she gave me a hug.

I gave her a hug.

And we used to always kiss like --

You know, like celebrities do?

You know that little peck thing?

And I said, "love ya," and she said, "love ya,"

And I watched her walk to her car.

I didn't see her go straight, right, or left.

I have no idea why she was up that road.

A lot of people were wondering that.

That night, she actually gave me a call while I was still at work

And asked if she wanted to meet out somewhere

For a couple drinks after work and, well, I told her no.

So I just told her she could do whatever she wanted to do,

I was going home.

So I says, "I'll go home and take care of the dog, whatever.

Just go ahead and do what you got to do."

The last time in saw her in person

Was that afternoon when she left to go to work.

That was the last time I saw her.

Fancy seeing you here.

You got a smoke?

The day the homicide occurred,

They contacted me at home and requested

That I report to the germantown police department.

I was also the photographer,

So I picked up some photo and video equipment

And drove out to the scene.

What I saw when I got here

Was a pontiac parked right over here.

The front tires approximately here.

I observed the body of a female alongside the vehicle.

She was identified as theresa wesolowski.

The seat was quite a ways forward,

Indicating that she was probably the driver

'cause she was fairly short.

She more than likely got out of the car on her own

To meet somebody.

Where the acceleration marks were, there was another vehicle,

And she was probably meeting that person

For an unknown reason.

Clearly, it was a homicide.

Who else was here?

Why was she there?

She was laying on her stomach, and you could see a lot

Of stab wounds on the back of her shirt.

It looked to us at the time

That the person probably stabbed her outside by the vehicle,

Possibly get in the roadway where she bled out some,

And then dragged her over to this location,

May have stabbed her some more in those two locations,

And then probably had a thought, "this is too exposed,"

And put her alongside the vehicle.

Her head was approximately right there on the gutter.

At the time of the murder,

The crime scene was a construction site.

Once the washington county coroner was there,

We turned the body over.

And at that point, then, we realized

That she had actually had two stab wounds in the neck.

It was very bloody, and she had suffered

A substantial number of stab wounds.

Crime with a knife is much more personal

Than shooting somebody with a gun.

Not 100%, but in all probability,

It was somebody that either had a relationship with her

Or wanted to have a relationship with her,

Somebody that was close to her.

Where the flag pole is,

Kind of towards the center of the road down there,

That's the front office of the box factory.

You can kind of see the roofline there.

The box factory was very close to the murder scene.

I worked off of a machine called a corrugator,