Bio

Lawrencia Bembenek was born on August 15, 1958, to Joe and Virginia Bembenek. She grew up on the south side of Milwaukee. Her family had lost a baby brother who was born prematurely, and relatives later said she was the child the family had prayed for.

Her sister Colette said Laurie was raised with indulgence. As a girl she took music lessons and played the flute in school. She attended Bay View High School. By her senior year she did some modeling.

After high school she held several jobs. She worked briefly as a waitress at a Playboy Club in Lake Geneva. She also posed for calendars and did other modeling work.

In March 1980 she entered the Milwaukee Police Department as a trainee. She graduated near the top of her class. While at the department she became close to a fellow trainee, Judy Zess. In August 1980 she was dismissed during her probationary period after an episode involving a report about Zess’ arrest at a rock concert.

After her firing she filed a sex discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also gave nude photos of some male officers to internal affairs. Later she said she had information about misuse of affirmative action funds and the hiring and firing of women on the force.

On January 29, 1981, she married Elfred "Fred" Schultz. In the early 1980s she worked in security jobs, including a position with Marquette University’s Public Safety Department in downtown Milwaukee. The press later gave her the nickname "Bambi," which she did not like.

Murder Story

On May 28, 1981, Christine Schultz, age 30, was found shot in her Milwaukee home. She had been shot once with a .38-caliber pistol. Her hands were tied in front of her, and a blue bandanna had been used to gag her. Her two young sons discovered her and called for help. The older boy described seeing a masked person in a green jacket and black shoes with a long reddish ponytail.

Ballistics tests later linked the murder bullet to an off-duty Smith & Wesson .38 revolver owned by Elfred "Fred" Schultz, the victim’s ex-husband. Investigators found a reddish-brown wig in the shared drainpipe of the apartment building where Laurie Bembenek and Fred Schultz lived. Hairs from the wig and hairs on the gag and at the scene were part of the evidence. A hairbrush taken from Bembenek was reported to have hairs consistent with some hairs found in the gag.

Witnesses at trial said Bembenek had spoken about harming Christine Schultz and that she owned items similar to those described by witnesses. The prosecution argued she had the motive, the means and the opportunity. The defense raised a switched-gun theory and pointed to other possible suspects and investigative errors. The trial featured testimony about the gun, the hair and the wig, and about who had keys to the apartment where the off-duty revolver had been kept.

Lawrencia "Laurie" Bembenek was arrested on June 24, 1981. In March 1982 a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison at Taycheedah Correctional Institution. She filed appeals that were denied.

While in prison, Bembenek earned a college degree and was described as a model inmate. She became engaged to a man with the last name Gugliatto. On July 15, 1990, she escaped from Taycheedah with his help. She and her companion fled to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and were captured about three months later.

Bembenek sought refugee status in Canada. Canadian officials pressed Milwaukee to review aspects of the case. A judicial review detailed several police errors and led to her winning the right to a new trial. Instead of facing a second trial, she pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and received credit for time served. She was paroled in late 1992.

After release, Bembenek wrote a book, pursued legal efforts to clear her conviction, and continued to seek review and a pardon. She faced legal and health problems, including arrests for drug possession, hepatitis C, alcohol addiction, and physical injuries. She legally changed her name to Laurie Bembenek in 1994.

In 1996 she moved to Washington state and later married Martin (Marty) Carson. She returned to painting and showed work in a local gallery, which was later destroyed in a fire. In 2002 she suffered a fall or jump from a second-story window that led to the amputation of part of her right leg.

Bembenek continued to seek legal relief, including petitions to higher courts, but her no contest plea was not overturned. On November 20, 2010, she died at a hospice facility in Portland, Oregon, at age 52.