Suspect arrested in 1992 double murder after authorities collect DNA during traffic stop – New York Daily News

A Wisconsin man pulled over by police for a traffic violation was later charged for killing a woman and her boyfriend in 1992 as revenge for a deadly snowmobile accident that left his father dead.

Tony Haase is facing two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the stabbing deaths of Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue, the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced Monday. Deputies with the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office found the couple stabbed to death alongside Togstad’s dog the afternoon of March 22, 1992.

For years, investigators worked to find the killer, but the case eventually went cold, despite evidence collected from the scene. They finally got a break in the case on July 6, after Haase was pulled over for a traffic violation. DNA evidence taken from a pen he used during the stop was determined to be a match to fluids on Togstad’s body, according to a criminal complaint, and Haase was arrested on Friday in connection with the slaying.

During an interview with investigators earlier this month, he confessed to having “‘snippets/blurbs’ of memories through the years that he attributed to the murders,” according to the complaint. “Those ‘snippets’ included remembering walking down the front steps of the house and vomiting in the yard” and leaving her driveway, the complaint said.

Haase said the memories “made him very nervous and scared that he was involved,” according to the complaint. He also told authorities that his father and Togstad’s father had been friends. Both men were involved in a snowmobile race in 1977 the led the death of Haase’s father.

Haase was just 7 years old at the time.

On the night of Togstad’s and Mumbrue’s slayings, Haase said he randomly started thinking about the deadly snowmobile collision, prompting him to get “very drunk.” Then, in a “drunken stupor,” Haase said he traveled to their home and killed them both. He added that when he “saw the news report he thought ‘Holy f—, what did I do,’” the complaint said.

If convicted he faces life in prison.

With News Wire Services