"It's not what you know,
it's what you can prove."
Audio Recordings
This is the chilling 911 call made by Jon Bruno Sharkus
at 11:34pm the night of 4 November 2017.
This is a transcript of the 911 call:
Date: Saturday, November 4, 2017
Time: 11:34pm
Duration: 7 minutes 52 seconds
Operator/Dispatcher: (ID Redacted) extension 206
Caller: Jon Bruno Sharkus (father of victim)
Neighbor: Raymond “Ray” Ostrander
Location: Wesley Inn, 625 South Wells Street #20, Lake Geneva, WI 53147
Type of Call: Hanging
Dispatched As: Suicidal Hanging
Operator: @14sec - 911 what is your emergency?
Jon Sharkus: @17sec - I need an ambulance.
Operator: @19sec - Where?
Jon Sharkus: @19sec - Wesley Inn, 625 South (fades away)
Operator: @21sec - (Interrupts) Ok hold on, hold on, hold on…
Jon Sharkus: @22sec - (faint in the background)
Operator: @23sec - Hold. I need you not one, one to talk in the phone and I need you to slow down so I can hear the address.
Jon Sharkus: @28sec - Hurry up my daughter just hung herself.
Operator: @30sec - Ok
Jon Sharkus: @31sec - (faint in background) Please hurry up!
Operator: @31sec - I can’t hear you! You have to speak into your phone for me. What is the address?
Jon Sharkus: @37sec - 625 South Wells Unit #20, Wesley Inn
Operator: @41sec - 625? #20?
Jon Sharkus: @45sec - Yes Maam
Operator: @47sec - Apartment 20? And you said that she cut herself?
Jon Sharkus: @50sec - (faint in background) 625 South Wells hurry up please!
Operator: @52sec - Ok I need you to take a deep breath for me. What happened?
Jon Sharkus: @55sec - (faint, difficult to understand) ____ I’m trying.
Operator: @59sec - What happened? Somebody cut themselves?
Jon Sharkus: @1min 2sec - (pause) (distant in background) What’s that?
Operator: @1min 3sec - What happened?
Jon Sharkus: @1min 5sec - She hung herself! I was in the car! Hurry up! Get an ambulance here!
Operator: @1min 9sec - Ok. Sir. I need to find out where did she cut herself?
Jon Sharkus: @1min 13sec - (faint and in the distant background) She didn’t cut herself, she she hung herself.
Operator: @1min 16sec - She, Ohh ok.
Jon Sharkus: @1min 18sec - Hurry up please.
Operator: @1min 19sec - Ok. Where is she?
Jon Sharkus: @1min 21sec - I’m not getting any response.
Operator: @1min 22sec - Where is she?
Jon Sharkus: (silence)
Operator: @1min 26sec - Hello??
Jon Sharkus: @1min 27sec - (faint in background) Hurry up hurry up!
Operator: @1min 28sec - (Interrupts) Alright. Ok! Listen to me!
Jon Sharkus: @1min 29sec - (faint and hard to hear) She’s on the bed.
Operator: @1min 30sec - Listen to me! Are you able – is she cut down???
Jon Sharkus: @1min 34sec - What do you mean?
Operator: @1min 35sec - Are you able to cut her down?? Is she on….
Jon Sharkus: @1min 38sec - (interrupts) She’s off the….yes she’s off the hanging.
Operator: @1min 40sec - Ok. So she’s on the ground right now?
Jon Sharkus: @1min 43sec - (interrupts) Should I cut a hole in her neck?
Operator: @1min 45sec - I don’t want you to cut a hole in her neck. I want you to listen to me ok? I’m going to help you through CPR.
Jon Sharkus: @1min 51sec - (hard to understand – sounds like he says “Ostrander…please….two three…”)
Operator: @1min 52sec - Ok? Can you…hear/here….
Jon Sharkus: (interrupts – hard to understand)
Operator: @1min 54sec - We have an….ok we’re dispatching an ambulance right now ok. I need you to talk to me.
Jon Sharkus: @1min 58sec - Hurry up!
Operator: @2min - Ok listen to me ok??
Jon Sharkus: @2min 02sec - Yes
Operator: @2min 03sec - Ok. I want you to put me on speakerphone and I want you to put the phone down next to you. And I will tell you exactly what to do.
Jon Sharkus: @2min 10sec - (interrupts – shouting) Ray right here! Hurry up! I’m doing CPR! Raymond! Talk to her!
Ray Ostrander: @2min 14sec - (calm) What do you need?
Jon Sharkus: @2min 17sec - (shouting) Her lungs are full! Her lungs are full! She’s drowning! Hurry up!
Operator: @2min 21sec - Ok. Can you hear me??
Jon Sharkus: @2min 24sec - Yes
Operator: @2min 24sec - Ok. Is she flat on the ground?
Jon Sharkus: @2min 28sec - She’s flat on the bed yes.
Operator: @2min 29sec - Ok I want you to kneel down beside her. I want you to put the heel of your hand on the center of her chest. Right between her her breasts. Right between her nipples.
Ray Ostrander: @2min 38sec - He knows how. He knows how.
Operator: @2min 40sec - He knows how to do CPR?
Ray Ostrander: @2min 42sec - He’s doing it.
Jon Sharkus: @2min 42sec - Yes
Operator: @2min 43sec - Ok I want you to put the other hand on top of that hand and I want you to press down hard and fast at least two inches in depth.
Ray Ostrander: @2min 49sec - He’s doing it. He’s doing it.
Operator: @2min 51sec - Ok and I want….
Jon Sharkus: @2min 52sec - (interrupts) …on the floor. Hurry up!
Operator: @2min 53sec - I want him to make sure that her chest returns to
the normal position in between every pump. (pause) Ok I want him to pump twice every second. (pause) Alright so we’re talking one hundred to a hundred and twenty compressions per minute. Ok can you hear me?
Ray Ostrander: @3min 14sec - (pause) Yeah
Operator: @3min 14sec - Ok. I want you to count one and two and three and four and five for him.
Jon Sharkus: @3min 18sec - (faint in background) …six, seven, eight, nine, ten. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
(Unknown): @3min 26sec - Hard to understand – background noise, male voice. Unsure if Jon, Ray or at Operator’s office.
Jon Sharkus: @3min 30sec - Hurry up!!!
Operator: @3min 31sec - Ok we have rescue dispatched ok? I want you to keep pumping for me.
Jon Sharkus: @3min 40sec - (pause then crying) Oh these motherfuckers! (more crying)
Operator: @3min 46sec - Ok can you hear this? This is this is how I want you to pump on her chest. (starts BPM ticker) Can you hear that?
Jon Sharkus: @3min 51sec - …two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight (suddenly stops counting).
Operator: @3min 56sec - One and two and three and four and five. Ok? I want you to keep going until someone comes there to help you. I want you to keep doing that until you get any signs from her ok if she starts breathing, moving, coughing, anything.
Jon Sharkus: @4min 15sec - (calm) Yes. Hurry up.
Operator: @4min 17sec - I have I have rescue dispatched I also have an officer en route ok they’re hurrying as fast as they can.
Jon Sharkus: @4min 23sec - (faint in background) Pull her like this. Pull her up. Pull her up.
Operator: @4min 27sec - I don’t want you to give her any kind of breaths. I just want you to keep pumping her chest.
Ray Ostrander: @4min 33sec - No breaths?
Operator: @4min 34sec - No breaths. Nope.
Jon Sharkus: @4min 39sec - (making noises, sounds like moans, gagging perhaps?)
Ray Ostrander: @4min 51sec - She’s puking.
Jon Sharkus: @4min 52sec - (can’t understand)
Operator: @4min 52sec - She threw up?
Ray Ostrander: @4min 55sec - She’s puking.
Jon Sharkus: @4min 56sec - (hard to understand) I’m pumping her stomach (inaudible) having a heart attack. Hurry up!
Operator: @5min 1sec - Alright I want…even if she’s vomiting I still want you doing compressions (Jon Sharkus yelling over her and cries out “NO!” in background).
Jon Sharkus: @5min 9sec - (more cries) Help me! Hurry up!
Operator: @5min 15sec - Sir? Sir? Are you able to take over for him? Would you be able to, to allow your, would you be able to do it?
Jon Sharkus: @5min 23sec - …three, four, five, (speeds up tempo) six, seven, eight, nine, harder harder! (much slower tempo) One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. (more cries) Oh…two, three (cries).
Ray Ostrander: @5min 37sec - (inaudible) sounds like he said “right there”.
Jon Sharkus: @5min 39sec - (more cries) I can’t I can’t.
Ray Ostrander: @5min 43sec - Come on.
Jon Sharkus: (more cries) I can’t. I already. Oh my god no (more cries). Oh my fucking god. (more cries)
Ray Ostrander: @5min 57sec - Come on. You’re the one that found her.
Jon Sharkus: @5min 59sec - I can’t can’t.
Ray Ostrander: @6min - How many minutes ago did you find her?
Operator: @6min 1sec - How are we doing? Are we still doing compressions? (long silence) Are we…are…
Jon Sharkus: @6min 10sec - (interrupts) (inaudible)
Operator: @6min 12sec - Are you still doing compressions?
Jon Sharkus: @6min 14sec - A police officer is here, officer walked in.
Operator: @6min 17sec - Well keep, keep doing them (Jon Sharkus talks over her – inaudible). Is he with you?
Officer McBride: @6min 23sec - Yep I’m here.
Operator: @6min 25sec - Ok I’ll hang up.
Jon Sharkus: @6min 29sec - (crying gently at first then ramps it up a bit until he bursts into hysterics and starts yelling “Oh my god noooo!!”) Suddenly, he catches his breath and says “What do I, what do I do here? Do you want me to lift her right out?”
Officer McBride: @6min 45sec - I’ll (inaudible) you good right there. Go outside and tell the other officer exactly what you saw.
Jon Sharkus: @6min 52sec - (in the distant background) Crying and yelling out “Noooo!” and “Oh my god!!”
(female voice): @7min 16sec - (hard to understand) __ me.
(male voice): @7min 17sec - Uh are you uh sister?
Lt Way: @7min 22sec - Bring the AED!! Bring the AED!! Bring the AED!!
Jon Sharkus: @7min 35sec - (inaudible) crying in distant background.
(inaudible voices)
(male voice): @7min 39sec - Yeah.
End of Recording
The cover-up began the moment Detective Ecklund responded to the crime scene. Instead of being properly interrogated immediately at the Lake Geneva Police Department the night of the murder, Detective Ecklund invites Jon Bruno Sharkus to come sit in Squad Car #201 and tell him what happened. Jon struggles to come up with the "right answers" and throughout this "kid glove interview" Ecklund answers questions FOR Jon.
This is the transcript of the Squad Car Interview:
Date: Sunday, November 5, 2017
Time: 12:50am – 1:04am
Duration: 13 minutes 58 seconds
Interviewer: Lake Geneva Detective Joseph Ecklund
Interviewee: Jon Bruno Sharkus (father of victim)
Address: Wesley Inn, 625 South Wells Street #20, Lake Geneva, WI 53147
Location: Detective Ecklund’s Squad Car #201
Ecklund: Detective Ecklund, today November 5, 2017, 12:50am. I’m at the Wesley Motel, 625 Wells Street, City of Lake Geneva, Walworth County, State of Wisconsin, apartment #20, for a hanging of a, uh, female subject Samantha Sharkus, S-H-A-R-K-U-S, uh, furthermore I’m gonna be speaking with father right now Jon Sharkus.
(female): Are you gonna just sit him in here?
Ecklund: Yeah I’m just gonna talk to him real quick. So…
(female): Alright. I’m gonna call Becky and see, uh…
Ecklund: Ok.
(female): …if we can find out where they took Sam.
Ecklund: Alright. Ok. Can you tell Jon to uh, have a seat over here?
(female): Ok.
Ecklund: Thanks.
(female): (in distant background) Jon?
Ecklund: Um the individual I want to speak with, Jon, uh he was here with his, um, oldest daughter, Mercedes, and her two friends, Justin and Hayden, when I got here. He’s coming right now.
Ecklund: Jon, she’s gonna find out where, where they took her but I’m just trying to get a timeline. Rather than you go to the station and stuff, can I just talk to you here about the day’s activities? Do you want to have a seat or just stand?
Sharkus: (voice is hoarse) Right there, they got, got, can I, s-sit, can I stand like this?
Ecklund: Yeah that’s fine.
Sharkus: Ok.
Ecklund: So Jon…
Sharkus: (interrupts) My tummy hurts.
Ecklund: So tell me, um, so the police obviously were called today. Tell me what happened….what happened throughout the day, what’s going on with you and Sam?
Sharkus: Um. Um.
Ecklund: Like earlier today, let’s say breakfast time, was everything fine at breakfast time when you guys woke up?
Sharkus: Yeah. Um uh um um her friend Rich stayed over last night.
Ecklund: Ok
Sharkus: Um…
Ecklund: Is it a boyfriend?
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. What’s his last name?
Sharkus: (Sigh) Oh I think…(breathing heavy)…god I only met him a few times. Um.
Ecklund: (interrupts) Well Mercedes…
Sharkus: (interrupts) Keys, Keys or…? No.
Ecklund: Mercedes might know. Ok so here’s…
Sharkus: (interrupts) Merc…um…
Ecklund: No that’s ok. So he stays over last night, he wakes up, she wakes up, everything’s cool in the morning with everybody?
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. Who do you live here with besides you and Samantha Sharkus? Does Mercedes live here?
Sharkus: No Mercedes has been staying over at, um, um, um the woman’s name is Reta and her husband.
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok.
Sharkus: They um, they live in Como.
Ecklund: Ok. Ok. So just you and Sam then?
Sharkus: Right.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: And, the dog.
Ecklund: And and the dog? What kind of dog do you guys get?
Sharkus: Um its um um it’s a husky.
Ecklund: Ok Ok. Ummmm so…
Sharkus: (moving around, grunting)
Ecklund: You gonna hop in?
Sharkus: (groaning, giggles)
Ecklund: Sorry it’s tight in here.
Sharkus: (whispers) That’s alright.
Ecklund: So everything’s cool in the morning…are the boyfriend Rich, or her friend Rich stayed the night, everybody gets up, do they, do they leave, do they have jobs, or what do, what do you guys do throughout the day?
Sharkus: Um um I’m disabled I don’t do a whole lot um…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok.
Sharkus: Wander around like a damn fool…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok.
Sharkus: Um. Sam’s working down at the Lake Geneva…it’s the Lake Geneva Motel down here.
Ecklund: Yep. Um housekeeping or what?
Sharkus: Yeah I guess you could call it that.
Ecklund: Ok. Did she work today?
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: What time did she work?
Sharkus: I…I think you’re gonna have to ask them. I want to say she got down there around 2…
Ecklund: (interrupts) She was done at 2?
Sharkus: (interrupts) 2……No she got down there…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Oh okay…
Sharkus: And then um…she got back somewhere between 8 and 9?
Ecklund: Ok. Where was um boyfriend Jon, was he at your place still or did he go with her or did he leave?
Sharkus: Boyfriend Rich?
Ecklund: Eh uh yeah Rich sorry. Was, did Rich leave when she left or did he stay at, at the #20 with you?
Sharkus: Um he left…he left pretty quick in the morning.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Um…
Ecklund: Did you guys fight or anything throughout the day, uh, up until when she went to work or was everything fine?
Sharkus: Um no, it, (stutters), as far as I tell everything was fine, um, her, um, both struggling here, um….
Ecklund: Ok. Alright. Uh do you guys see anybody for your struggles, do you talk to anybody whether it be psychologists or psychiatrists or…
Sharkus: (interrupts) Yes.
Ecklund: Ok. Both of you or just you or…
Sharkus: Yes. Um right now um I just started with a um…um with a um…um…a therapist or (stutters) a uh um um psychologist (stutters) soc…soc…uh social worker I guess?
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Uh…uh I think that’s what her card said.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Social worker and…..
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: I want to say her name was Ann but…
Ecklund: Ok and what about Sam? Did she talk to anybody or not?
Sharkus: Not right now. Um…
Ecklund: Do you think she needs to?
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. Ok…when did you last talk to your therapist?
Sharkus: Um I just saw, um, this social worker, I just saw her…was it, yesterday or the day before?
Ecklund: And where did you see her at, up in Elkhorn or?
Sharkus: No at the Mercy, um, Mercy Options it’s called.
Ecklund: Ok. Ok. Alright so she goes to work like 1 or 2, down here, uh, she’s back at 8 or 9, what happens when she gets back? Do you guys eat dinner, did she eat food by herself, what happened?
Sharkus: Um…well she came home, I thought she was gonna be going with, um, um, I thought that, that um, the owner of that um, Lake Geneva Motel was gonna driver her to Elkhorn. I think that’s where Charlie, uh, she was going to see a friend named Charlie. And the owner had told her that um, um, that she would give her a ride and something happened between the two of them that um, that the ride didn’t happen…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Now you’re talking the female, the owner, the uh Indian? Descent? Uh are we thinking the right hotel down here on the Wells Street?
Sharkus: Yeah, yeah…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok. Ok so the ride never happened…
Sharkus: Um….right the ride did not happen.
Ecklund: Did they get in a fight, her and the owner, or what happened?
Sharkus: I don’t know.
Ecklund: Ok. Ok. She was supposed to go see Charlie in Elkhorn.
Sharkus: Right.
Ecklund: Ok. Alright and then, um…what happened then?
Sharkus: Um…she came home, um….I really didn’t, I really didn’t see too much back and forth, it was, um, I could tell she wasn’t happy, um, uh, and then, um, there was a call, there was a call from her, um, the Indian woman, had called and I was talking to her and she said that, um, uh she had to find somebody for, to watch her daughter, um, and then um, she could give Sam a ride so she was saying, um, she told Sam to come down, um, and Sam kind of scoffed at it “um whatever”, um…
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: So…
(male): (unsure if this was Jon or someone outside of the squad car) You ok?
Sharkus: Um…
Ecklund: So she said to hell with it I’m not going down there…
Sharkus: Right…
Ecklund: (interrupts) More or less?
Sharkus: (interrupts) Yeah and we don’t, um, um, our vehicle is not working, hasn’t been working, again, for, uh, how much time it is…
Ecklund: Ok. Alright so do you know is this, like, what time is it now, like, 10 o’clock when this happens, when the owner calls back, she gets back at like 8 or 9…
Sharkus: I have to look at the phone to be…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Did she call your phone, the owner?
Sharkus: Yeah. Yep.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. Alright then what happened? So she says to hell with it I don’t want to go. Was she upset or how was she acting?
Sharkus: Um, any chance we can do this at the hospital? I’m hoping to see her tonight….er…um….
Ecklund: Well I’m almost done.
Sharkus: Ok.
(speaking over each other)
Ecklund: Yeah.
Sharkus: Um…
Ecklund: Was she upset…
Sharkus: (interrupts) Question again…
(still talking over each other)
Ecklund: Was she…
Sharkus: I’m sorry.
Ecklund: Was she upset, when, when the owner says hey…
Sharkus: (interrupts) She was quiet. She was just quiet, just, and and, um, I came out to the car one time or went out one, tried to walk Christy, Christy just pulls in all different directions, um…
Ecklund: Who’s Christy?
Sharkus: Christy’s the…the dog.
Ecklund: Oh. Okay.
Sharkus: Um…
Ecklund: So you came outside?
Sharkus: Right um…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok. He comes….you come outside. Ok.
(talking over each other)
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: I…I…she went potty and came in, um, she was still just, not happy. Um….um….
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok.
Sharkus: And I, I’ve slept out in the car quite a few times so it was, um, she had, she‘d started to make, um, this fort, a pink fort, um, she was gonna sleep right next to the heater, um, she likes it warm, um…
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Uh, and I said, I told her don’t even worry about that, I’m, I’m gonna go out and sleep in the car.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Um. Grabbed my blanket, I grabbed my phone…I grabbed my, um, whatever else and I went out and sat in the car.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Um.
Ecklund: Ok. How long were you in the car?
Sharkus: I don’t know.
Ecklund: Ok.
(Sharkus is breathing heavy)
Ecklund: 5 minutes, 10 minutes?
Sharkus: Something like that yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. Then you went back inside?
Sharkus: Um. (long pause) Yes.
Ecklund: Ok.
Sharkus: Oh my god…
Ecklund: You wanna get out Jon and stretch?
Sharkus: May I?! Uh…
Ecklund: Yeah go ahead! Go ahead Jon…
Sharkus: (sighs, sounds relieved, heavy breathing)
Ecklund: Go ahead! Get some fresh air man!
Sharkus: (grunting, giggling, more heavy breathing)
Ecklund: You’re gonna cramp up.
Sharkus: (Exits the squad car, giggles, sounds relieved, grunts, more heavy breathing)
Ecklund: Ok. And and that’s, and that’s when you found her? When you went back, when you left from the car?
Sharkus: Yeah I got out of the car and I came in, into the apartment, and, um, I see her hanging from a towel…
Ecklund: (interrupts) Ok. Ok.
Sharkus: (stutters) And then it go (stutters) that, that’s, that’s the time, then it’s move, move, hurry up move, oh my god…um…(breathing heavy again)…
Ecklund: Ok. Did, did then your neighbor help you out too Jon? (brief pause) Yeah.
Sharkus: Yes. Rrr…um…Ray did.
(talking over each other)
Ecklund: Ok. Alright how are, uh, is Justin got a car or does Hayden got a car? Is it Justin or Hayden or where is Mercedes? Are they waitin for ya?
Sharkus: Yeah.
Ecklund: Ok. Let me…let’s go see them here (exits squad car).
(male): (distant in background) Did you find out what…
(Lots of interference in Ecklund’s microphone now….sounds like he is walking)
Ecklund: (speaking to someone else at the scene) Ok. Ok. Alright. One of you guys are gonna drive then?
(Female): Yes.
(multiple voices – muffled)
Ecklund: She’s at Lakeland, right, you said?
(Female): Yep she’s at Lakeland, she’s not gonna get transported out right away, they have a trauma, I think they have a trauma doctor there? Sooo….they’re working on her. They’re keeping, trying to get her stable. Go up there…
Ecklund: (interrupts) That’s good that they haven’t done anything, they haven’t taken her anywhere so you guys…
(Female): (interrupts) You guys can take her up….
(Lots of interference in Ecklund’s microphone – hard to make out what anyone is saying)
(multiple voices, muffled)
Ecklund: Are you ok, are you ok?
Sharkus: I don’t know. I’m gonna be. Somehow. I’m gonna get through this right?
Ecklund: Yes. Ok….you’re not gonna do something stupid to yourself?
Sharkus: No.
Ecklund: Do you want to hurt yourself?
Sharkus: Naw.
Ecklund: Alright. (inaudible)…we’re here for you. Don’t do nothing to yourself. Ok? Mercedes (inaudible) Sam needs you.
Sharkus: Yeah true.
Ecklund: Ok? Take a couple deep breaths, just (exhales), just take a walk man, just keep moving, just breath, ok? And if you have bad thoughts, call the PD or 4-4-5-5 or 911 and don’t do anything stupid to yourself. You have people here to talk to ok? This is a huge event, obviously very traumatic, you’re gonna be going through a lot the next couple days…don’t do nothing to yourself. Call somebody if you need to. Ok? There are people that love you and care about you and you have family members here that need you. Ok Jon?
Sharkus: Thank you.
(Female): We’re going to clean up the medical stuff…
Ecklund: Ok. Yep I’ll get some gloves ok (microphone interference)…..Is this you guys’ car?
(muffled voice)
Ecklund: Oh you guys got a car though?
(Female): Yes.
Ecklund: Ok we’re just gonna clear some stuff off so you guys can grab a coat or whatever and get going….(microphone interference, sounds like Ecklund is walking).
Ecklund: Time right now is 1:04am.
End of Recording
>>This recording can be heard best with headphones
or earbuds and your volume turned all the way up<<
Jon Bruno Sharkus and Detective Joe Ecklund discuss "burning the towel" that was collected as evidence at the scene. In fact, Jon and Joe made it a top priority to destroy as much evidence as possible from Sam's murder as well as all of Jon's other crimes.
>>This recording can be heard best with headphones
or earbuds and your volume turned all the way up<<
This was the day Detective Joe Ecklund handed Jon Bruno Sharkus what Jon proudly refers to as his "Exoneration Sheets". Ecklund goes on to instruct Jon "not to put these online" because "'what's-her-name' will see it and stir up a hornet's nest."
Jon's own words - says Detective Ecklund "begged" him not to put any of this online. Whoops Ecklund!
This is a meeting Jon Bruno Sharkus had with his private attorney, Dan Draper, who also happens to be the Lake Geneva City Attorney. As soon as he sits down with Dan Draper, he asks him "These sheets, do they exonerate me? That's all I really need to know."
On 4 December 2019, I called the Medical Examiner's Lead Investigator, Gina Carver, to discuss the findings (or lack of) in Sam's autopsy. She was nice and professional and generously answered most of my questions. She told me to email a list of my concerns, including the photo of the abrasions on Sam's neck so that Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki (Chief Medical Examiner) could take another look.
Gina also told me to forward my open records request to her. I sent the records request on 11 December 2019 along with my list of concerns. The only follow up I received was in the phone call below from Dr. Biedrzycki who repeatedly asked if I would be willing to travel 1,740 miles (round trip) to view Sam's autopsy photos in their office.
On 26 December 2019, Walworth County Medical Examiner Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki called me specifically to discuss my open records request for Sam's autopsy photos that I wanted digitized on CD. She never mentioned my list of concerns that I emailed to Gina Carver and instead immediately confirms (twice) that there is NO possibility I will physically travel 1,740 miles round trip to their office to discuss the autopsy photos. She explained to me that attorney Michael Cotter, of Corporation Counsel, would review my records request to determine whether or not I am entitled to receive copies (so that I can forward them to my own independent team of forensic investigators for a second opinion on cause and manner of death).
Corporation Counsel arbitrarily denied my right, as Next of Kin, to copies of her autopsy photos and a second opinion. This lack of transparency should concern every citizen in Wisconsin!
Video Recordings
This is a video, timestamped 5 March 2017, of Jon Bruno Sharkus smoking a crack pipe. I found this video on Samantha's cell phone meaning she most likely recorded it herself. She was only 17 years old at the time. That's right, Jon is smoking crack in front of our minor children like it's no big deal.
This is a video, timestamped 15 May 2017, of Jon Bruno Sharkus high on dope. I found this video on Samantha's cell phone. She repeatedly asks him four separate times about going to the ER because she believes he is literally dying right in front of her. He is so high, he can't even speak and instead glares menacingly at her. There is no doubt in my mind she recorded him because she was scared he would snap and attack her...which is exactly what he did only five months later!
(Tap on each picture below to enlarge it in a pop up window)
This is a screenshot of the last post made on Sam's Facebook profile at 10:29pm on the night she was murdered. These are not her words - she did not talk like this. Ever. In fact, she had been looking forward to seeing her boyfriend all day after work. Jon Bruno Sharkus was the only person in the room with her at this time and he had full access to her phone and Facebook account after she got home.
This is a page, dated 11/4, from Jon's brown journal that the police took as evidence from the crime scene. He writes four variations of "I want to die", writes about recording someone at 10:41 then makes a final (incomplete) entry at 10:49. Sam did not leave a suicide note - was Jon trying to forge one in his journal or does this indicate something more sinister happened?
Screenshot from Jon's Facebook page, dated 11 Feb 2018. He went out to his car for only "five minutes" and he also says whatever happened to Sam, happened at "approximately 10:20pm" yet he didn't call 911 until over an hour later at 11:34pm. He spent those 74 minutes cleaning up and staging the crime scene and smoking crack cocaine while our baby died.
This note is in Jon's own handwriting and eerie words - "She didn't struggle". He was so confident he had gotten away with murdering Sam that he posted about it nearly everyday. It's outrageous that Lake Geneva Detective Joseph Ecklund deliberately overlooked all of the evidence Jon publicly posted and instead chose to let a murderer roam freely on the streets.
This is an email Jon Bruno Sharkus sent to Lake Geneva Police Detective Joseph Ecklund about Sam's case. It's telling that Jon specifically asks about finding any DNA under her fingernails. The rest of it speaks for itself - he wants to make sure he isn't a suspect and implicates her boyfriend who wasn't even there that night. So nice of Ecklund to get him an apartment...*sarcasm*.
This is an email Jon sent to Attorney Melissa Frost. He wants to make sure that No Prosecution letter from the District Attorney's office legally "exonerates" him. He goes on to criticize Detective Ecklund's so-called investigation into Sam's death and then accuses our other daughter of lying because she went to the police department and gave statements about Jon's crimes.
This is a screenshot of Jon bragging that he is "the most protected person in Walworth County". I have to agree with him after everything I uncovered while investigating Sam's murder. He has gotten away with decades of child abuse and neglect, gun crimes, pedophilia, prolific drug trafficking and now murder. The citizens of Walworth County deserve to know WHY.
On 19 October 2019, Jon makes this chilling Facebook post. He is holding up a copy of Sam's autopsy along with the No Prosecution letter, signed by ADA Haley Jo Johnson, that he affectionately refers to as his "Exoneration Sheet". He writes "When I got these I was so damn proud and happy..." No doubt he was proud to have gotten away with murder. This is so disturbing!!
Now let's revisit the last post that was made on Sam's Facebook page the night she was murdered. Anyone who knew her, especially her family members and closest friends, all agree she didn't speak this way. In fact, Sam was extremely gifted intellectually, and her words were a reflection of her intelligence. Since Jon Bruno Sharkus was the only person with her in the room when this post was made at 10:29pm AND he had access to her Facebook account via the app on her cell phone (which was also in that room) it's only logical to surmise he made this post on her page in an attempt to build his alibi after he strangled her and left her to die slowly on the floor from suffocating on her own vomit.
Furthermore, according to his Facebook post above, he only left the room for "five minutes" to go out to his car (his backup alibi). It's a fact he didn't bother to call 911 until over an hour later, 74 minutes to be exact, at 11:34pm, and only after he was sure she no longer had a pulse.
Knowing all of that, watch this disturbing video that Jon Sharkus made himself which is nothing short of a sinister celebration of Sam's murder and getting away with it. This is the most incriminating insight into his twisted, violent psychopathic mind so far.
Tap on the video to play it - you will have to uncheck the MUTE button. It will make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up.