Steven Zelich charged with First Degree Intentional Homicide

WEST ALLIS -- Former West Allis Police Officer Steven Zelich is charged with First Degree Intentional Homicide for his role in the death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez. He is being held on $2 million bond.

According to the criminal complaint, Zelich admitted to investigators he caused the death of Gamez. In the criminal complaint Zelich said he first met Gamez online in 2012. The two began chatting, and eventually met up in August 2012. Zelich told Kenosha police he picked Gamez up at the airport and drove her to a Kenosha hotel near Hwy. 50 and I-94.

While talking to Kenosha police, Zelich said he spent \"two or three days\" with Gamez in a Kenosha hotel. The criminal complaint says Zelich admitted to engaging in breath play, a game where he controlled his partner's breathing by choking her. In the criminal complaint, Zelich admitted to Kenosha police he blindfolded Gamez, handcuffed her, put a ball gag in her mouth, and tied a rope around her neck. 

The criminal complaint says Zelich admitted to losing control while choking Gamez, and causing her death. Zelich told investigators that he then put the body of Gamez in a suitcase before transporting her body to his West Allis apartment. The criminal complaint also states Zelich hid the body of Gamez in a refrigerator and later put her body in the trunk of his vehicle.

On June 6 2014, Town of Geneva police found the bodies of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez and 37-year-old Laura Simonson stuffed in suitcases along the side of a highway.

In the criminal complaint, Zelich said he had to dump the bodies, because he could no longer keep the bodies due to warm weather and the smell.

Zelich made his first court appearance in Kenosha County to face these new homicide charges. Zelich is already facing two counts of hiding a corpse in Walworth County. He is scheduled to reappear in Kenosha County court on August 15, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.