Diane R Borchardt

November 1992, Ruben first files for divorce.

December 1993, Ruben first starts becoming more aggressive and we now are assigned a mediator. Christmas he starts again then he takes off again.

January 1994, I ask to push case into court. Another domestic dispute and sheriff is called.

March 1994, court commissioner orders Regen and I to move out of our residence.

April 2^nd, Ruben again beat me up. Sheriff tells me not to return home that evening
April 3^rd, I receive a call while we are in Wautoma that Ruben has been shot.
April 4^th, I am told that I must appear in civil court to sign over the rights to my son (stepson) Chuck. I have been his mother for 15 years; he was almost 17 at the time.
April 5^th, I am served with a wrongful death suit brought about by my stepson Chuck and my stepdaughter Brook who was almost 19 at the time.

Weekly court hearings occurred throughout the spring and summer, plus there was also an ongoing Secret John Doe being conducted at this time. Every court appearance was met with complete cooperation and always on time. Regen and I returned from Wautoma evening of April 3^rd. I immediately met with my divorce attorney. Thomas Monogue calls D.A. Linda Larson, she seems to be under the influence and he tells her I will be available for questioning the morning of April 4^th.

April 4^th, Tom tells me that I will not answer any questions as they intend to prove that I done this. Tom calls his friend Mitchell Solomon, an attorney in Waukesha, and he agrees to take my case pro-bono as our estate is frozen. From that point on, Mitch now tells me that I cannot cooperate and he will handle all questions. Daily the press releases state that I am not cooperating, that “no-one puts a hit on Mr Raymond Krek’s client and gats away with it”. Daily this, and more, is presented to the newspapers, television and radio.

April 5^th, I am to go to court after the funeral to sign over rights to my son (stepson) Chuck who is now 16 years of age.

April 7^th, I am notified that I will be the subject of a wrongful death suit initiated by my step-children Brook 18 and Chuck 16. Her father put Brook out of our rural home in November of 1993. At that time, he tells her that she may never return, we argue and I tell her that she is always able to return. Our daughter Regen, then 13, secretly taped this. The suit says that they will prove that I had done the April 3^rd shooting death of my husband of 15 years Ruben E. Since this proves to be impossible, as I was in Wautoma, proven to be too far away for this to have been done by me; they now suggest that I must have hired this shooting done.

August 5^th 1994, our home is again broken into. The sheriff is called, at that time against my attorney’s advice; I talk to the sheriff for over two hours. They then conclude that I must have done this too to take the focus off me. Again, no DNA is taken, no fingerprints, no tire marks, and no investigation. A few days after this my P.I., my neighbour, Jeannie Schultz, and myself witness a man illegally shooting from his truck, this too is reported, they show up three hours later, again no investigation even though the license and full description of the truck were given.

August 18^th 1994, Judge John Ullsvik rules that even though he has previously frozen our estate, he now rules that under the law I am declared legally dead, thus fore disinheriting everything I have ever owned, yet he still court orders me to care for our estate. Now that I have nothing, no inheritance, no business, he will serve as judge in September 30^th criminal case. I am arrested and charged with the 1^st degree shooting death of my husband on that date. Mr. Krek’s friend’s son, Jeb Simmons, lays claim to the $10,000 reward. He is also the one that would testify, yet he could not be found at time of trials. Attorney Raymond Krek files the wrongful death suit by transferring the monies left in Ruben’s divorce account into an account in Brook’s name. He also initiated the loss of custody against me for my son Charles. He had Charles placed into the custody of Ruben’s sister and husband Steve and Barb Kulow, Lake Mills. Upon conviction, Ray Krek was the one that initiated the sale of a bogus lie filled movie. The court appointed ex-Judge Lampert, Ft Atkinson as executer. Raymond then got himself appointed as Judge Lampert’s attorney. Soon after Judge Lampert said that our assets were not large enough to require his expertise and handed the control over to the Ft. Atkinson. All of our tax records are kept at Attorney Thomas Monogue’s office downtown Jefferson. Ruben and I were in the process of a divorce after 14 years of marriage. I worked full-time for the Jefferson School District (approx 6 years), also owned and operated Mrs B’s silk screen (approx 5 years) and a mother of Brook ( 18 ½ ) Chars ( 16 ½ ) AND Regen then 13 ½ - she was the only child born naturally to myself and Ruben. As mentioned previously, Brook had been kicked out of our rural Jefferson home in December 1993 and moved in with Julie Dickoff and her parents Mr and Mrs James (Duffy) Dickoff. Brook was attending the MATC in Watertown, working for Mrs B’s and Super America in Jefferson. At that time, Mrs Pearl DeBlare was helping manage with Mr Michael Miller. Brook was being watched, as when her friends would come in the video cameras were turned off and the cash register was not balancing on her shift. At the time, Brook was also stealing from our store, Mrs B’s. Upon being questioned by Mr DeBlare it also came out that Jeromiah Deblare (aged 13-14) and his friend Jebodiah Yahnke (aged 13/14) had asked permission to go out that evening (April 2^nd 1994) with Jeb’s older brother (Joshua Yahnke). Upon Mr DeBlare’s questioning if the younger boys would be home that night, Mr DeBlare learned that Josh and Doug (Vest) were planning on attending a party that night in Watertown (with Brook) and then into Milwaukee 4/3/94 to meet Brook for breakfast. Since Brook was older, I never realized that brook even knew Josh (then 16) and Dough (then 17). At that time Brook was also dating Tyson Grossman and some young black man from the University of Whitewater. He already had an arrest record for grand theft auto, etc. Brook had already told him, and numerous others, that her father was a doctor, that he had died and she would be very rich soon. She promised all of that that she would have a big party in her house (our home) by 7/94. Brook also told numerous others that large sums of cash were stashed in the walls of our rural home. When she and Chuck started the accusations, media blitz and wrongful death suit against me 4/5/94. I was served at our rural home 4/7/94. Ullsvik appointed ft. Atkinson bank to be the administrator. Their first action was for me to hand over my husband’s truck to be sold by the bank. Regen and all of her 13 year old friends were continually harassed and questioned by the deputies at any give time. Judge Ullsvik was the judge in all of my cases, upon being asked to recluse himself, he stated that he could and would be fair and impartial, yet when the D.A. requested only 20 years and the P.S.I recommended 15, he handed down 40 years P.E.D. He also ruled no side bar conferences; he would not review any letters written for or against me. He would allow arguments against me in front of the jury, he would not excuse the jury for any reason, even if it concerned their families as they were brought down from Hudson, WI. The entire suit and numerous other bits of gossip were printed daily on the front page of the newspaper.

August 5^th, my husband’s shop was broken into. It was ransacked and some existing projects were messed with. This was found by John Hartwig as he came to our home to finish some of Ruben’s work for some of the church members and friends of ours. John was a teacher of 6^th grade at our Lutheran School. Regen and myself had left home and were going into town to work at Mrs B’s. John called, panicked and Regen and I met him as he returned the key to us. We proceeded immediately to our home. Upon dialling 911, Chuck hangs up the phone and then proceeds to call Judy Franz - Ruben’s mistress. Judy’s husband answers the phone, he then allows Chuck to talk with Judy, when Chuck hangs up the phone he calls the neighbour - Rita Baumann. He said that he was asking Judy what he should do. He then said that he proceeded outside to wait for the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived they say that Chuck was outside. My husband’s friend, Lyn Adams, is one of the first responders. She asks Ruben who did this to him, she said that he responded ‘it does not matter, I need to be med-flighted as I have been shot’.Lyn said that Ruben held fast to the fact that it did not matter whom, but that he should be med-flighted. Chuck stayed behind and waited for Ruben’s sister to drive from Lake Mills to then take him and his sister Brook to the hospital in Madison, while their father stayed in Ft. Atkinson.

At noon, on April 3^rd, Brook called Wautoma and talked with her maternal grandmother, Mrs Thomas Manthie - that is when she found out that Regen and I had spent the night up there. Some of the other issues were the secret John Doe allegedly started 4/8/94. It then ran until 10/13/94 - even after I was arrested and charged as I was let out on bail 10/11/94. My car was not returned to me as the judge said that it was used in the commission of this crime, that I could only return the car to the estate for Brook, or it had to be sold. As they had already taken Ruben’s truck and sold it, half of the furniture, all of Ruben’s shop equipment, and any materials that they found, plus the 4-wheeler, Odyseey, the antique 54 Ford, flatbed truck, the lawn-mowers, snow blower, and sold it all at an auction held by Stade Auction Services, they said they needed all this for the mortgage. At the trial immunity was given to Tim Quintario and Shannon Johnson who both had the same lawyer from Waukesha. Shannon was eventually charged with perjury and spent 90 days in jail. They threatened her with the return to prison for her handicapped father as they found him in possession of a gun, if she did not speak against me. Jebadiah Simmons received immunity and collected the $10,000 reward on the last day of September when they arrested me at school in front of the 1^st hour study hall that I was in charge of. The sheriff had already threatened Dough and Shannon’s families, had also lied by saying they had never been called for a domestic dispute. Drugs were found on Josh at school the day of his arrest. Even though Doug and Josh admitted to doing drugs the night of Ruben’s shooting, they did not know where they purchased the gun, for the amount paid.

There were four shotgun shells found in my son’s room under his pillow, they said that Ruben was shot with re-loads, the same as those in Chuck’s room. Also alcohol, drug paraphernalia, razor blades and hunting arrow tips were found in Chick’s room but were not removed. None of the testimonies were consistent, nor the time for Chuck’s initial wake-up, nor the fact that he had taken the alarm from my room and had two alarm clocks set for different times. He was not paraffin tested, the only gun confiscated was our four-ten found loaded in our garage, but they said they did not think it was the weapon. He was led through his testimony by Krek this being the same attorney that instigated the wrongful death suit, removal of my parental rights of my son, illegally transferring Ruben’s divorce funds into Brook Fisher’s name that was to be his new retainer free, he also tried to be the representative for the estate over Judge Lambert. After he was released, in the end, he again became the administrator of the estate along with Charles Wedl, my husband’s best friend and the driver of the car that hit my husband’s first wife, Susan Manthie. This is the first time that it is evident that my husbands will is honoured. The estate bill was over $93,000. Krek gained access to confidential records at the clerk of courts office, and published the slanderous movie. He also testified against me during the trial and made serious accusations as to my medical and emotional health. The state impeached its own witnesses, Josh Yahnke and Doug Vest. The state released my uncle’s private phone and address from his check which paid for my bail. My ex-sister-in-law’s home was ransacked - evidence was hidden there. Sheryl Johnson, Ft. Atkinson, signed a statement that said Ray Krek told hr of this and she even knew the location. The D.A. asked for a 20 year sentence, the P.S.I. recommended 15 years, yet the same judge, who ruled in all my cases, was the one who said “oh no, I will give her 40 years before parole eligibility and she will probably live”. Before, when I was on bail, the judge would call me in weekly and try to take our youngest (Regen) from me as he said that since I did not have a car that he had previously confiscated, then the second break-in, nothing was done as far as investigating. After six months on bail, no infractions, the judge called me to revoke my bail as he said that now I was a flight risk. Currently Joshua Yahnke was living in Jefferson as he was released approximately 5 years previously. During his and Doug’s incarceration, he confided in Gabrielle Alwin, who currently resides in Fort Atkinson, that I was never a part of anything. Also one Cheryl Johnson sent a signed notarized statement to my P.I. stating that Ray Krek told her that he know of my innocence.

My P.I. can be contacted, Angie Kvidera, 207 E. Buffalo, Milwaukee, 53202-414-271-1977. Thomas Monogue can be contacted at 227 South Main Street, Jefferson, WI. 920-674-2315.

At the original trial no fingerprints, no tire impressions, no security lights were seen, no vehicles were on our road, no weapon were found. Our other neighbour, Thomas hake, proved that he drove by our home at 3.45am, as he worked for the water and sewer plant in Jefferson. This was also why he could say that no security lights ever lit-up.

I have since heard, again from Dough Vest, that he wants me to try to get back into court on the basis of contradictory theories. The boys were charged as adults, yet I was charged with soliciting minors. The boys were charged with having a short barrel shot gun, yet it was proven in my trial that the gun could not have been such, the spread pattern was too large. The fact that a loaded 410 shotgun was found outside of the garage door that entered into our home, it had been fired, but was not tested to see if it was the weapon. Did the hammer print match that of the shell found on the basement floor? The gun cabinet was found unlocked - Ruben never allowed this. Our lock box was found on the breakfast counter of our kitchen and everything in it had been removed - insurance policies, all car and vehicle titles, $5,000 cash as was given to Ruben by Lee Bleeker in order to have custom cabinets built. Lee is from Dousman. This, and the gun, were not documented.

Diane R Borchardt, #298089
Taycheedah Correctional Institution
PO Box 1947
Fond du Lac, WI 54936
U.S.A.