A 48-year-old Wisconsin man has been detained after it was claimed that he killed his girlfriend and her friend with a knife because he felt "humiliated" after he walked in and saw them having sex with each other.
According to Law & Crime, authorities reported that Richard Wendell Sotka was apprehended on January 29 and charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the brutal killings of Paula O'Connor, 53, and Rhonda Cegelski, 58.
According to a press release, Green Bay police officers responded to a call on January 29 at a duplex in the 1600 block of Elkay Lane. First responders arrived on the scene and went inside the house, where they discovered two adult females who appeared to have been stabbed to death.
Though it wasn't immediately clear which victim Sotka was dating, the man was initially sought out by police as a person of interest in the case. Sotka was reportedly dating one of the victims.
In an Oconto County case where he is accused of stalking, harassment, and violating a restraining order, Sotka was already free on bond and had to wear an ankle GPS monitor. But according to Green Bay Fox affiliate WLUK-TV, Sotka allegedly cut the monitoring device from his leg and dumped it alongside Interstate 41.
After the bodies of the victims were found, Sotka was captured about 10 hours later, according to Mississippi County, Arkansas offiicals.
According to a criminal complaint that WLUK obtained, Sotka vehemently denied the stalking allegations but admitted to killing the two women in Green Bay after his arrest. Sotka allegedly told police that he felt "humiliated" when he entered the duplex and saw his girlfriend having sex with her friend.
"He said he asked [Cegelski] where he was supposed to go and at that point he said he lost it, he just lost it. He said he couldn’t tell [police] details or tell [police] exactly what happened, but he knows he completely lost it," the complaint is reported to have stated. "[Sotka] stated, ‘I’m guilty of killing these girls, but I’m not guilty of what they said I did in Oconto County.'"
Also according to the complaint, even after police disabled Sotka's GPS ankle monitor, they were still able to find him in Arkansas by using the OnStar system in his truck.
According to WLUK, Sotka last week waived extradition to Wisconsin and will be returned there by deputies from the Brown County Sheriff's Department. According to the online court docket, no court hearings have been scheduled in Brown County, and a timetable for his return is still unknown.
According to court records, the homicide charges were amended to include one domestic abuse modifier and two modifiers for use of a dangerous weapon. Sotka was also charged with one count of felony property damage and one count of bail jumping.
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