Man Charged After Wife Found Dead in Rural Wisconsin
A New Richmond man is facing multiple felony charges after authorities say he killed his wife and moved her body to a rural area in Wisconsin.
Police responded to the couple’s home in the 1300 block of Bluff Border Road around 1:45 p.m. Sunday after a 911 caller requested a welfare check on 68-year-old Mary Laakso.
The caller told dispatchers that Mary’s husband, 70-year-old Gordon Laakso, had made statements that raised concerns she had been harmed earlier in the day. Officers arrived at the home and located Gordon Laakso, but Mary was not there, and efforts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful. The investigation led officers to a rural area in Polk County, where they found Mary’s body around 4 p.m.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Monday and determined Mary Laakso’s death was a homicide.
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Authorities took Gordon Laakso into custody and he remains in the St. Croix County Jail. He has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, domestic strangulation and suffocation, and hiding a corpse. During a court appearance Monday, a judge set his bail at $1 million.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 17 and New Richmond PD is continuing to investigate with assistance from the St. Croix County and Polk County Sheriff’s Departments.
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