Cindy Schulz-Juedes: Murder, 2021 Trial, and Prison Death

Cindy Schulz-Juedes was a Wisconsin woman convicted in October 2021 of being a party to the first-degree intentional homicide of her husband, pharmacist Kenneth Juedes, who had been shot to death in their Marathon County home fifteen years earlier. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in June 2022. Just over a year into that sentence, on July 19, 2023, she was beaten to death in her cell at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution by her cellmate, Taylor Sanchez.¹

The 2006 Killing at Dill Creek Farm

On August 30, 2006, 58-year-old Kenneth Juedes was found dead in the bedroom of the couple’s Marathon County property, known as Dill Creek Farm. He had been shot twice at close range with a 20-gauge shotgun, once in the back and once in the chest. A kitchen knife had been driven through a pillow next to him, pinning a note that read “bitch.”² There were no signs of forced entry, the doors were unlocked, and the property’s surveillance cameras had been switched off days earlier, which investigators considered unusual for a security-conscious homeowner.³

Cindy Schulz-Juedes, then in her early fifties, told deputies she had spent the night in an RV parked near the back deck because she felt unwell, and that Ken had encouraged her to sleep there after taking medication that made her drowsy. She said she woke, went into the house, found his body, and tried to call 911 from a landline that produced only a “screaming” noise, so she ran to a neighbor’s house instead.² The neighbor described her as hysterical but not crying. She was wearing a clean white robe with no blood on it, despite saying she had tried to help her husband.⁴ Arriving officers described her as “well-groomed” and “lethargic.”⁵

Why the Case Took Thirteen Years

Investigators focused on Schulz-Juedes from early on, but no charges were filed until late 2019. Marathon County Sheriff’s Captain Shawn McCarthy said the case was never treated as cold, and cited turnover in the county district attorney’s office as the main reason charges took so long. Detective Dennis Blaser later reinvestigated the file and built out the circumstantial case that prosecutors ultimately took to trial.⁶

Several strands of that circumstantial case pointed to Schulz-Juedes. She owned a 20-gauge shotgun given to her by a former husband, the same gauge used in the killing, and she reported it stolen only after Ken’s death, having never filed a theft report before. Police tested the landline and found it would not have made the “screaming” sound she described if it were genuinely out of service. Witnesses contradicted her account of sleeping in the trailer, saying she had refused to sleep there.⁷

In 2010, private handwriting examiner Hannah McFarland concluded Ken’s signature on his will, which named Cindy as sole beneficiary, was “probably not genuine.”⁸ The attorney whose name appeared on the document said its format did not match his office’s standard practices, and a person listed as a witness denied being present for the signing. Cindy said she eventually found the will tucked inside a book of wedding photos, after first telling investigators she could not locate it.⁷

DNA testing on the “bitch” note could not exclude Schulz-Juedes as a source, while ruling out other potential suspects. Investigators also found other notes Ken had written that featured a distinctive lowercase “b” matching the note at the scene, and came to believe Ken himself wrote it during an argument the night he died.²

Her behavior after the death drew scrutiny too. Ken’s estate, including life insurance, was worth more than $950,000, and after the marriage Cindy had been named beneficiary of 75 percent of his Riversource policy, replacing his four children as equal beneficiaries.⁹ She listed Ken’s land for sale twenty days after his death and sold it for about $200,000, despite his mother’s requests that it stay in the family. She also blocked his relatives from viewing his remains or holding a funeral.⁷ Investigators concluded that if the couple had divorced instead, Cindy would have received “little, if anything.”⁴

Schulz-Juedes was arrested on November 27, 2019, at age 65, and formally charged on December 13, 2019, with first-degree intentional homicide.⁴⁵

The 2021 Trial

The trial took place in October 2021 before Marathon County Circuit Judge Michael Moran. District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon charged Schulz-Juedes as a party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide, along with resisting or obstructing an officer. That framing let prosecutors argue she either killed Ken herself or acted with others without having to prove which.¹⁰

The murder weapon was never recovered, and prosecutors acknowledged there was no direct physical evidence tying Cindy to the shooting. The case was entirely circumstantial, resting on the will, the insurance changes, the missing shotgun, the disabled cameras, the unlocked doors, the phone story, and the fact that no foster children were in the house that one night.¹¹

The Alternative-Suspect Defense

Defense attorney Earl Gray argued that five other men were responsible, tied to a business dispute at Monster Hall Raceway, which Ken co-owned. Ken had sued a man named Randall Landwehr for $300,000 over alleged fraud connected to a brewery at the raceway, and had won that suit in the spring of 2006. Investors in the brewery lost money, and a criminal fraud investigation was still active when Ken was killed.¹²

One of the five men the defense named was Patrick Alan Lilley, better known as Butch Patrick, the actor who played Eddie Munster on the 1960s series The Munsters. Lilley had met Ken at the raceway, and his mother had invested $10,000 in Landwehr’s brewery. The National Enquirer had run a 2012 cover story headlined “Munster Murder Bombshell at Monster Hall.” Lilley testified that he first learned of the allegations from that article, denied any involvement, and said the coverage cost him appearance contracts.¹³

Another defense witness, Brian Demler, had previously claimed to be the getaway driver. On the stand he recanted, saying he had made the story up in jail to try to get a signature bond on a drunk-driving charge.¹⁴ Crime lab analysts testified that no fingerprints or DNA from any of the five men were found at the Juedes home.¹² Schulz-Juedes testified in her own defense and maintained her innocence.

On October 26, 2021, the jury convicted her on both counts.¹⁰

Sentencing and Appeal

On June 8, 2022, Judge Moran sentenced Schulz-Juedes to life in prison without the possibility of parole and ordered more than $1 million in restitution. He called her conduct after the killing “callous and unfeeling.” Ken’s family told the court her actions had torn them apart with “a tangled web of lies.”¹⁵

Schulz-Juedes continued to insist she was innocent, repeatedly using the phrase “as an innocent person,” criticized her trial attorney, and told the court the conviction “hurt my soul.”¹⁵ Her attorneys began the appeals process and were granted an extension of time in June 2023. As of reporting in April 2024, her appeal was still pending in the Wisconsin appellate system despite her death.¹⁶

Death at Taycheedah Correctional Institution

On July 19, 2023, Schulz-Juedes, then 68, was found dead in her cell at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac. Her cellmate, Taylor Sanchez, had used the intercom to tell prison staff she believed she had killed her.¹⁷

An autopsy documented skull fractures too numerous to count, rib fractures, a broken clavicle, and lacerations and bruising across the abdomen, chest, and arms. Schulz-Juedes had choked on her own blood. Surveillance video showed the two women entering the cell together that afternoon, and other inmates reported hearing what sounded like sixty to seventy punches along with cries from the victim.¹⁷

Sanchez, 29, was serving a two-year sentence for battery by a prisoner at the time.¹⁸ In a phone call to her mother after the attack, she said she had beaten Schulz-Juedes to death with her bare hands and feet, that she had stopped taking her medication, that she was hearing voices telling her to kill her cellmate, and that she believed Schulz-Juedes had been using her toothbrush to clean the toilet and her belongings to wipe the floor.¹⁹

Sanchez was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in January 2024. She initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, withdrew it in June 2025, and pleaded no contest.²⁰ On July 28, 2025, Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of release, calling the attack “wholly vicious.”¹⁹

1
Wausau Pilot and Review. Fellow Inmate Accused of Homicide in Schulz-Juedes Death
2
Oxygen. Cindy Schulz-Juedes Killed Husband Ken Juedes in Wisconsin
3
The Wausonian. The Backstory on How the Juedes Case Unfolded
4
WPR. Widow Arrested 13 Years After Husband’s Homicide in Central Wisconsin
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Wausau Pilot and Review. Life Without Parole for Woman Convicted in Husband’s 2006 Slaying
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WAOW. Cold Case
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Wausau Pilot and Review. Woman Convicted in Marathon County Cold Case Murder Dies in Prison
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Wausau Daily Herald. Kenneth Juedes Homicide Case Against Cindy Schulz-Juedes Moving Forward
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WSAW. Week 2 of Schulz-Juedes Murder Trial Continues With Forensic, Life Insurance Testimonies
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Fox 6 Now. Wisconsin Woman Convicted in Husband’s 2006 Death
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The Wausonian. Cindy Schulz-Juedes and the Kenneth Juedes Murder
12
Law and Crime. Child Actor Known for Playing Eddie Munster Testifies in Murder Trial
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WSAW. Actor Famous for Playing Eddie Munster Called to Testify in Schulz-Juedes Trial
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Wausau Pilot and Review. Jury Deliberates in Cold Case Homicide Trial
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Wausau Daily Herald. Cindy Schulz-Juedes Sentenced to Life in Prison
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Wausau Daily Herald. Former Taycheedah Correctional Inmate Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Cellmate Cindy Schulz-Juedes
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Yahoo News. Former Taycheedah Inmate Guilty in 2023 Killing
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CBS News Minnesota. Wisconsin Women’s Prison Inmate Taylor Sanchez Life Sentence Cellmate Murder
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Spectrum News 1. Taylor Sanchez Beats Cellmate to Death
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Wisconsin Law Journal. Inmate Pleads No Contest in Cellmate’s Prison Killing