Bio

Wayne D. Kubsch was born on October 31, 1967. By the late 1990s, he was living in Mishawaka, Indiana, and was married to Elizabeth “Beth” Kubsch. Beth had two sons from a previous marriage: Aaron Milewski and Anthony Earley. Aaron lived with his father, Rick Milewski, while Anthony lived with Beth and Wayne Kubsch.

Kubsch owned several rental properties in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Court records later showed that by 1998 he was under serious financial pressure. He had large mortgage obligations, delinquent property taxes, and significant credit-card debt. Earlier that year, he had refinanced rental properties to pay off debt, but new debt accumulated quickly afterward.

In July 1998, about two months before the murders, Kubsch purchased a life insurance policy on Beth Kubsch. The policy named him as the sole beneficiary and would pay $575,000 upon her death. Prosecutors later argued that this policy, combined with his financial problems, gave him a motive to kill his wife.

Murder Story

On September 18, 1998, Beth Kubsch turned 31 years old. That same day, she was killed inside the Mishawaka home she shared with Wayne Kubsch. Also killed were her former husband, Rick Milewski, aged 35, and their son, Aaron Milewski, aged 10.

Beth’s 13-year-old son, Anthony Earley, returned home after a school event and discovered signs of violence inside the house. He found Rick Milewski’s body near the basement stairs and then saw Aaron’s body nearby. Police later found Beth’s body in the basement area. The victims had been stabbed, and Rick and Aaron had also been shot at close range.

Investigators developed a case against Kubsch based largely on circumstantial evidence. Prosecutors argued that he killed Beth in order to collect the life insurance money, and that Rick and Aaron were killed because they arrived while the crime was taking place or shortly afterward. Phone records were used to place Kubsch near the area of the home during a key period of the afternoon. Prosecutors also pointed to duct tape evidence, a receipt found in his vehicle, financial problems, and statements allegedly overheard after the murders.

Kubsch denied committing the murders. His defense maintained that he had been working and later traveled to Michigan to pick up his son. The defense also argued that another man, Brad Hardy, may have been responsible. Hardy had initially faced charges connected to the murders, but those charges were later dropped after he testified under immunity.

Kubsch was first convicted of three counts of murder on June 15, 2000, and was sentenced to death on August 28, 2000. On March 14, 2003, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed that conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling that the trial court had improperly admitted his full videotaped police interrogation.

Kubsch was retried in 2005. A second jury again found him guilty of three counts of murder, and he was sentenced to death on April 18, 2005. Years later, in 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned the second conviction, finding that important defense evidence had been wrongly excluded.

After the 2016 ruling, prosecutors prepared for a third trial. In 2018, the State of Indiana dropped its request for the death penalty and instead sought life without parole. On February 11, 2019, Kubsch entered a guilty plea to two counts of murder for the deaths of Beth Kubsch and Rick Milewski. Under the plea agreement, the murder count involving Aaron Milewski was dismissed, though Aaron remains one of the three victims killed in the crime.

Wayne D. Kubsch was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.