Update: Police: Suspect linked to Schneller homicide through DNA
Wausau Daily Herald • May 12, 2009



A suspect is in the custody of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Dodge County in connection with the homicide of high school student, Breanna Schneller in Wausau.

Raul Ponce-Rocha, 22, has been in custody since last Wednesday in connection with the brutal May 2 slaying of Schneller at her apartment.

Ponce-Rocha is expected to be brought to Marathon County to make an initial appearance in circuit court tomorrow afternoon on a first-degree intentional homicide charge, Marathon County Assistant District Attorney Theresa Merriwether said at a press conference this afternoon.

Schneller was beaten and stabbed multiple times, Wausau Police Chief Jeff Hardel said. Schneller, an 18-year-old D.C. Everest Senior High School senior, was found dead inside a west-side apartment she shared with her fiance and his brother. The motive for her death is unclear at this time.

Two knives were recovered from inside the apartment, police said.

Preliminary DNA results received Monday from the state Crime Lab link Ponce-Rocha to the crime, Hardel said. Ponce-Rocha’s DNA was found inside a pair of mis-matched gloves that were found by police in a dumpster outside of El Tequila Salsa, the Rib Mountain restaurant where Ponce-Rocha, Schneller’s fiance, Sebastian Ramirez, 22; Ramirez’s brother, Hugo, 19, all worked, Hardel said. The gloves, two pairs of Schneller’s underwear, and her cell phone were found in a bag inside the dumpster, police said.

Ponce-Rocha admitted to being in the parking lot of Schneller’s apartment to pick up a co-worker during the time of the murder, but denied his involvement in her death, Hardel said.

Ponce-Rocha was interviewed last Wednesday as detectives questioned employees of El Tequila Salsa. When Ponce-Rocha acted deceptively and gave inaccurate and misleading answers, investigators turned their focus on him, called federal authorities and had an immigration hold placed on him, Hardel said.

Though Ponce-Rocha is an illegal immigrant, Hardel said, police do not have the authority to arrest an illegal immigrant unless they have been linked to or committed a crime. Federal law enforcement officials have that authority, he said.

Hugo Ramirez left the apartment at 10:10 a.m. to go to work at El Tequila Salsa and Schneller was alone and alive at that time, police said. Ponce-Rocha left El Tequila Salsa at 10:20 a.m. to pick up a co-worker in the apartment parking lot. He returned to work at 10:57 a.m., Hardel said.

It is during that 37-minute window that police think Ponce-Rocha killed Schneller.

The Ramirez brothers were both working at the time of Schneller’s death, but Hardel refused to absolutely clear them of being involved. Investigators have not ruled out that another person was involved in Schneller’s death.

Ponce-Rocha had been charged in April with battery and disorderly conduct, but both charges were dismissed, according to Wisconsin circuit court records online. The only other charges listed for that name were for traffic offenses.

He had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in February in Wausau, according to city police reports, but no related charges appear in the state’s online court records. Police reports from that arrest and court records from the battery charge list Ponce-Rocha’s address as Kickbusch Street in Wausau.

The Daily Herald will update this report as more details become available.

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