'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wAARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQH/8QAIhAAAQMCBgMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBAAFBgchMUFRERMi/8QAFAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABP/EABkRAAIDAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAREhcf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AlzIxYGcARo7kMONOXEKCSrY+pQ6758cVk0W/WhqMy25bnFLSgJUfjUganalKMyRvRiPN2f/Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The upcoming 20/20 episode, The Suitcase Murders, will follow the murder of two women, who were killed and then stuffed into a suitcase each. The investigation into the cases and evidence confirmed that they were killed by the same man, Steven Zelich.
Both women, 37-year-old Laura Simonson and 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, had met Zelich through an online dating community. Here's everything we know about the case.
20/20: The Suitcase Murders will tell the story of two women who trusted the wrong man
As ABC News reports, the upcoming 20/20 episode, The Suitcase Murders, will follow the June 2014 case when two suitcases containing the bodies of two women were discovered by the side of a rural road in Walworth County, Wisconsin. Eric Anderson, a former Town of Geneva patrol officer who was one of the first responders at the scene and had opened one of the suitcases, told 20/20:
"Nothing can prepare you for what you can see upon opening a suitcase and finding a corpse inside of it."
The suitcase Anderson opened had the decomposing body of Jenny Gamez, who was tied with a rope. Detective Jeff Recknagel of the Walworth County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene later and opened the second suitcase to discover Laura Simonson's decomposing body. But at the time, neither of them were identified initially.
As ABC News reports, the Walworth County Sheriff's Office detective, Jeff Recknagel, told 20/20:
"We had a tremendous amount of work in front of us to try to figure out -- first off, who the victims were, then to try to figure out how they had lost their lives, and then to try to figure out who was the person responsible for that."
The police began searching for who these women could be, and thankfully they looked beyond Wisconsin. As the upcoming 20/20 episode will explore, the police soon learnt of the case of Laura Simonson, who went missing in November 2013, from Farmington, Minnesota. Simonson left her van at her mother's home, along with her phone, purse, medication, and a note about her belongings.
Earlier that year, she had lost her 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, and was going through a difficult time mentally. But her friends and family never believed she left by choice because she had six other children she loved.
Back in 2013, Farmington Police Detective Sergeant Lee Hollatz had circulated a statewide alert to help find Simonson. Investigators later found a hotel employee who told them that she remembered Simonson staying there with a man whose behaviour had made her uneasy.
The hotel records confirmed that Simonson had indeed stayed at the hotel, and surveillance footage showed that the man left without her. Investigators also discovered that Simonson had interacted online with a user named "Mrhandcuffs" on a BDSM dating website. A friend of hers connected the username to a man named Steven Zelich.
As the description of the upcoming 20/20 episode reveals, investigation into Zelich revealed that he was a former police officer from the Milwaukee area who had left the West Allis Police Department in 2001 following allegations of intimidating and harassing women.
In March 2014, federal and Wisconsin investigators questioned Zelich. He agreed to provide a DNA sample but denied knowing Simonson. Since Simonson's body was yet to be found, there wasn't enough evidence to proceed with the case.
After the suitcases were found in June 2014, investigators eventually identified one victim as Simonson through an ankle tattoo of a heart and her daughter Alyssa's name. DNA evidence from the rope used to restrain Jenny Gamez led investigators to Steven Zelich. Following his arrest, Zelich admitted to killing both women and identified the second victim as Jenny Gamez, from Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Zelich told investigators that he had met Gamez through an online dating site. He claimed she died accidentally during "breath play" and said he kept her body in a refrigerator for more than a year. He also admitted to killing Simonson in Rochester, Minnesota, describing a similar incident.
As the upcoming 20/20 episode will explore, Zelich revealed that he had later transported both bodies in his vehicle and placed them inside suitcases. After a co-worker noticed a strong smell near his car, Zelich said he panicked and disposed of the suitcases. While Zelich was charged with multiple counts of murder and hiding a corpse, at first he had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
In 2016, Steven Zelich pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Jenny Gamez and one count of hiding a corpse. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by 10 years of extended supervision.
In 2017, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Simonson and received a 25-year prison sentence. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for two counts of hiding a corpse in Walworth County, Wisconsin.
20/20: The Suitcase Murders will premiere on ABC on October 16, 2026, at 9 pm ET.
Trending
For more articles like this, follow Soapcentral.
Reply
