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Michael Lefkow and Donna Glenn Humphrey Murders: Is Bart Ross Dead or Alive?

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Michael Lefkow and Donna Glenn Humphrey Murders: Is Bart Ross Dead or Alive?

Joan Lefkow, a federal court docket choose again in 2005, got here dwelling from work in the future to find a horrific sight. Michael Lefkow and Donna Glenn Humphrey, her husband and mom, have been murdered in her home in Chicago, Illinois. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Folks Journal Investigates: Regulation & Homicide’ chronicles an unlucky case the place a determined man ended up taking the final word step. So, let’s discover out what occurred then, we could?

How Did Michael Lefkow and Donna Glenn Humphrey Die?

Michael Lefkow was a 64-year-old lawyer who was a Civil Rights activist throughout the Nineteen Sixties. He met Joan Humphrey in 1965, and so they married about ten years later. The couple lived in Spain for some time earlier than shifting again to Chicago. On the time of the incident, Joan’s mom, Donna, visited them from Colorado. The 89-year-old was described as an inquisitive one who was lively in her native church and all the time helped folks in want.

On February 28, 2005, Joan got here dwelling from work someday within the night to seek out Michael and Donna murdered within the basement. They’d been shot a number of instances with a .22 caliber firearm, together with photographs to the top. The authorities have been known as onto the scene, collected shell casings, and later examined doorways for hint proof. Nonetheless, the case would catch an sudden break simply over per week later after a routine site visitors cease in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Who Killed Michael Lefkow and Donna Glenn Humphrey?

Since Joan was a federal choose, the authorities initially regarded into previous circumstances of hers to see if anybody held a grudge. One individual that stood out was Matthew Hale, a white supremacist who was already convicted for soliciting Joan’s homicide and later sued her. Whereas Matthew was in jail, the police checked out his associates outdoors. However on March 9, 2005, an sudden sequence of occasions led to the true wrongdoer within the case.

That day, a police officer in West Allis, Milwaukee, pulled over a van for a damaged tail mild. Nonetheless, the driving force of the automobile killed himself because the officer approached. The driving force was recognized as 57-year-old Bart Ross, a Polish immigrant initially referred to as Bartlomiej Ciszewski. Because the investigators labored on this case, they discovered that Bart was the one who killed Michael and Donna, with bodily proof linking him to the murders.

Quickly, it got here to mild that Bart had an issue with Joan, and he or she was the supposed goal. Within the early Nineties, Bart was identified with head and neck most cancers, prompting radiation therapy on the College of Illinois at Chicago Hospital. Radiation meant that the docs needed to take away his enamel earlier than it began. Bart then needed to get a surgical procedure carried out to take away part of his jaw as soon as the most cancers was again. Nonetheless, he had filed medical malpractice fits over time claiming the therapy disfigured his face.

Through the years, Joan dominated towards Bart 4 instances earlier than dismissing his case ultimately. He tried to have his plea heard for over a decade however was unsuccessful. Bart claimed he misplaced his household, job, and his dwelling throughout that interval. The dismissal was additionally upheld on enchantment in January 2005. When Bart’s automobile was examined, they discovered a suicide be aware that had him admit to Michael and Donna’s murders. It described particular particulars solely the killer would have recognized.

One other handwritten letter despatched to a information station described how Bart broke into Joan’s dwelling throughout the early hours and waited within the utility closet to kill her. Nonetheless, he shot Michael after the latter found him. Then, Bart claimed to have shot Donna when she heard the gunshot. The letter additional acknowledged, “After I shot husband and mom of Decide Lefkow, I had a variety of time to consider life and loss of life. Killing is not any enjoyable, though I knew I used to be already lifeless. I gave up additional killings on about 1:15 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2005, and left Decide Lefkow’s home”

The letter discovered within the automobile additionally contained the names of different judges who upheld the dismissal. On the day Bart killed himself, a parking ticket was issued near the Milwaukee federal courthouse; these two judges had their workplaces within the constructing. Surveillance footage from the court docket captured Bart strolling round. There was bodily proof as properly that tied the 57-year-old to the crime. DNA from a cigarette butt discovered within the Lefkow residence matched Bart, and a shell casing from his dwelling matched those on the scene.

How Did Bart Ross Die?

On March 9, 2005, an officer in West Allis noticed a van parked shut to a faculty and determined to test it out. However the driver, who was later recognized as Bart, peeled away and made an unlawful U-turn. Upon noticing that he had a damaged tail mild, the policeman pulled the van over. Then, the officer heard a gunshot and noticed that Bart had shot himself within the head with a 9mm handgun. After his loss of life, Joan mentioned, “I suppose on one degree I’m relieved that it didn’t have something to do with the white supremacy motion as a result of I really feel my youngsters are going to be safer. It’s heartbreaking that my husband and mom needed to die over one thing like this.”

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