Cindy Schulz-Juedes: Murder, Life Sentence, and Prison Death

Cindy Schulz-Juedes was a Wisconsin woman convicted in 2021 of the 2006 shotgun murder of her husband, pharmacist Kenneth “Ken” Juedes, in a case that had gone cold for more than 13 years. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release in June 2022. Just over a year later, in July 2023, she was beaten to death by her cellmate at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution.

The 2006 Killing of Ken Juedes

On August 30, 2006, Ken Juedes, 58, was found shot twice in the chest with a 20-gauge shotgun in the bed of the couple’s home on Maple Road in the town of Hull, Marathon County. On the other side of the bed, investigators found a body pillow with a kitchen knife stabbed through a note reading “bitch.”¹

Schulz-Juedes told police she had slept in a camper on the couple’s 30-acre property and found her husband’s body when she went inside the next morning. She walked to a neighbor’s home to call 911, wearing a white robe with no visible blood on it. Responding officers described her as “clean and well-groomed” and “lethargic.”² The murder weapon was never recovered.

Why Suspicion Turned to His Wife

From the start, the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office believed the killing was intentional. Investigators briefly considered a business dispute involving Ken Juedes’ company, Monster Hall Raceway and Campground in Unity, Wisconsin, but suspicion soon shifted to Cindy Schulz-Juedes.

Her account had holes. She said a landline in the house made a “screaming” noise when she tried to use it, but police confirmed the sound she described would not occur if the phone were out of service or off the hook. Witnesses said she had previously refused to sleep in the camper where she claimed to have spent the night. She described a “dream” about dogs barking and her husband spitting up blood that matched what investigators actually found at the scene.³

Money pointed the same direction. Ken Juedes’ estate included insurance policies totaling more than $950,000, and a will left everything to his wife.⁴ A handwriting expert later concluded Ken Juedes’ signature on the will was “probably not genuine,” and the attorney and witness named on the document both denied involvement in drafting it.³ About 80 acres of property in the town of Norrie went on the market 20 days after the death and sold for $200,000.¹ Prosecutors said the couple had been having relationship problems that could have left her with little in a divorce.²

Schulz-Juedes also owned a 20-gauge shotgun, the same gauge used in the killing, given to her by a former husband. She said it had been stolen, but she didn’t report the theft until after the homicide. In 2007, she offered a $25,000 reward for information about the murder.²

Arrest After 13 Years

The case sat until Detective Dennis Blaser of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office took it over in 2016 and conducted a new interview with Schulz-Juedes in 2019, which produced fresh contradictions with her earlier statements.⁵

She was arrested on November 27, 2019, at age 65, in Chippewa Falls.² Judge Michael Moran found probable cause on December 2, 2019, and she was charged on December 13, 2019, with first-degree intentional homicide. Bond was set at $1 million. Her defense attorney at that stage, Trevor Peterson, called the evidence “circumstantial” and said the 13-year delay reflected “a lot of doubt” in the investigation.⁶

The 2021 Trial

The two-week trial began in October 2021 in Marathon County Circuit Court before Judge Moran, with more than a dozen witnesses.³

Prosecutors argued that Schulz-Juedes had the “motive, resources, and knowledge” to kill her husband. She knew the house, the surveillance system, and that Ken Juedes was intoxicated that night. Prosecutor Robert Kaiser told jurors it was “just common sense that the defendant would know all of those things and would be able to pull it off.”⁷ Detective Blaser testified using four maps documenting the shifting accounts she had given of her movements that morning.⁵

The Defense’s Alternative Suspects

The defense argued the killers were disgruntled investors tied to Monster Hall Raceway. Ken Juedes had sued a business associate, Randall Landwehr, for $300,000 in a fraud dispute and won in 2006, and several of Landwehr’s investors lost their money as a result.¹

One of those investors was the mother of Butch Patrick Lilley, the actor who played Eddie Munster on The Munsters. Defense lawyers alleged Lilley, Landwehr, and three other men had conspired to kill Ken Juedes, a theory that had first appeared in a 2012 National Enquirer article headlined “Munster Murder Bombshell at Monster Hall.” Lilley testified he first learned of his supposed involvement from that article, which was later retracted at his attorney’s request, and he denied any role in the killing.⁸ Crime lab analysts testified that no physical evidence from the scene tied any of the five accused men to the home.⁹

Another man named by Schulz-Juedes as a conspirator, Brian Demler, had once told detectives he was the getaway driver. At trial he admitted he had made the story up while jailed on a drunk driving charge, hoping to get out on a signature bond, and said he was in Green Bay the night of the killing.¹⁰

The Verdict

Schulz-Juedes testified in her own defense, saying she was “terrorized” upon finding her husband’s body and maintaining her innocence.¹ The jury deliberated for less than six hours before finding her guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and obstructing an officer. She was 66.⁷

Life Sentence

On June 8, 2022, Judge Moran sentenced Schulz-Juedes to life in prison without the possibility of release and ordered her to pay more than $1 million in restitution. She continued to deny involvement at the hearing, prefacing many of her statements with “as an innocent person,” and criticized her trial attorney. Her appellate attorney, Michael Hughes, said the appeals process was already underway.⁴

Beaten to Death at Taycheedah

On July 19, 2023, Schulz-Juedes was found dead in the cell she shared with Taylor Sanchez at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac. She was 68. Staff discovered her body on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood.¹¹ The Fond du Lac Police Department opened a homicide investigation.¹²

An autopsy found skull fractures “too numerous to count,” 34 rib fractures, a fractured clavicle, and extensive bruising.¹³ Sanchez, then 27, admitted beating Schulz-Juedes to death with her hands and feet, telling a prison sergeant she had been “hearing voices telling me to kill her.”¹⁴ In a recorded call with her mother, Sanchez said she had stopped taking her medication, that the voices had returned, and that she believed Schulz-Juedes had been using her toothbrush to scrub the toilet.¹⁵

Sanchez was already serving a combined sentence for battery against a law enforcement officer and battery against an inmate out of a 2022 Kenosha case.¹⁶ Schulz-Juedes’ own appeal was still pending at the time of her death; her attorneys had received an extension on the deadlines just weeks earlier.¹⁷

Sanchez’s Conviction

Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Sanchez in January 2024 in Fond du Lac County, charging her with first-degree intentional homicide.¹⁵ She initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, then withdrew it in June 2025 and pleaded no contest to the homicide.¹⁸

On July 28, 2025, Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced Sanchez, then 29, to life in prison without the possibility of parole, calling the killing an “utterly vicious attack.”¹⁴ Sanchez asked to be considered for eventual release, saying she wished she “could take it all back.” The judge declined.

1
Wausau Pilot & Review. Life Without Parole for Woman Convicted in Husband’s 2006 Slaying
2
Wisconsin Public Radio. Widow Arrested 13 Years After Husband’s Homicide in Central Wisconsin
3
Wausau Pilot & Review. Woman Convicted in Marathon County Cold Case Murder Dies in Prison
4
Wausau Daily Herald. Cindy Schulz-Juedes Sentenced to Life in Prison for Death of Husband
5
WSAW. Prosecution Focuses on Schulz-Juedes Inconsistencies Over Time With Its Final Witness
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Oxygen. Cindy Schulz-Juedes Arrested for Kenneth Juedes 2006 Murder
7
WBAY. Jury Finds Widow Guilty of Husband’s 2006 Murder
8
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 at Schulz-Juedes Trial
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WSAW. Defense Brings Its First Witnesses Forward in Cindy Schulz-Juedes Murder Trial
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Spectrum News 1. Taylor Sanchez Beats Cellmate to Death Cindy Schulz-Juedes
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NY1. Death of Wisconsin Inmate Serving Life Sentence for Husband’s Killing Being Investigated as Homicide
13
The Independent. Wisconsin Prisoner Murders Cellmate
14
WBAY. Sanchez to Be Sentenced Monday for Killing Cellmate at Taycheedah
15
WSAW. Complaint: Inmate Accused of Killing Cindy Schulz-Juedes in Prison Claimed to Hear Voices
16
Fox 11. Taylor Sanchez First-Degree Intentional Homicide No Contest Plea Conviction
17
FDL Reporter. Taycheedah Inmate Charged With Killing Cellmate Cindy Schulz-Juedes
18
CBS News Minnesota. Wisconsin Women’s Prison Inmate Taylor Sanchez Life Sentence Cellmate Murder