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Vernon C. Seitz, 62, was found deceased in his home on December 15, 2008 by
Milwaukee, WI police following a wellness check request by a friend. While
it appeared Mr. Seitz died of natural causes, what police also found in his
home was anything but natural.
Milwaukee Police executed a Search warrant the following day, and seized
over 500 pieces of evidence, including male child porn, bondage equipment, a
book titled "Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of Cannibalism and children's
shoes. According to a search warrant obtained by TODAY'S TMJ4, "during an
emergency sweep of Seitz's residence officers noticed newly poured cement in
Seitz's basement" and "elevated dirt piles in the yard and bondage devices
in the basement, hanging from the floor rafters."
Also found, of unknown origin, were tufts of what appears to be human hair.
Before anyone speculates it would be natural for a barber to have tufts of
hair lying around his shop, Verns' Barber Shop is located 10 miles away.
At Seitz's Packard Ave Barber shop he owned for 20 years, Police found a
laminated poster of missing Minnesota Child Jacob Wetterling. Jacob
Wetterling, abducted in October 1989 by a masked gunman while riding his
bike to rent a movie with his brother and a friend, has never been found.
Apparently that is not due to the fact that Mr. Seitz did not make the
effort:
The boy's mother, Patty Wetterling, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that
Seitz came to visit her twice soon after the abduction. He claimed to be a
psychic wanting to help and had even given her a painting of Jacob.
"He seemed to care, and he shared that he had his own personal reason to
care," she said, noting that Seitz had had an abusive incident happen to him
in the past, which she declined to speak of further. There were a number of
not yet disclosed missing children posters among Mr. Seitz belongings.
However, it appears Mr. Seitz's concerns for missing young boys extends
beyond the domestic. Creepy Barber Guy had a missing person's poster of
Michael Dunhee.
Michael Dunhee, aged 4 ½, disappeared from a park near his home in Victoria,
BC in 1991 and has never been found. Michael's Mother, Crystal Dunahee,
told CBC News on Wednesday that she's not sure whether Seitz ever contacted
her family after Michael disappeared, but that the name Vernon Seitz does
seem "familiar" to her.
Dust off the Rorschach, shrink needs a shrink
Seitz confessed to his psychiatrist of 11 years, Dr. Victoria Fetter: "He
told me that although he liked little boys, he knew that you can't touch
little boys, so what he did was paint them nude," Fetter said. "He didn't
tell me about kiddie porn or anything that he would get in boiling hot water
if he did anything, then he can paint the pictures. That won't hurt
anybody."
He also told her that he had used what he regarded as his psychic abilities
to help the families of missing children across the Midwest but that he
never mentioned Jacob Wetterling.
The story of the potential confessions of Vernon Seitz gets more bizarre
when you talk with Seitz's psychiatrist. She told TMJ4's Charles Benson that
the 62-year-old Seitz was on a mission of mercy.
She said Seitz wanted to put his mind at ease about killing a 14-year-boy in
Racine back in the late 1950's when Seitz was only 12-years-old. Fetter
wouldn't comment on whether Seitz ever confessed other crimes to her, citing
doctor-patient confidentiality. She said she could only talk about the 1950s
incident. Fetter said she was appalled when she found out what police found
in Seitz's house.
Is "boiling in hot water a psychiatric term for spending the rest of your
life in the slammer where he becomes the little boy in the scenario? Sources
inside the investigation indicate there are discrepancies in Dr. Fetter's
comments to MPD leading up to the passing of Seitz.
If that is true, it will not be the first time Dr. Fetter's patient
management skills have come under scrutiny. In 2000, Fetter was
professionally reprimanded by the Wisconsin Medical Board for misconduct of
confidentiality and unprofessionalism towards a patient and her family
during 1996-1997. This would be right around the time Seitz began seeing
her. I did not provide the reference to this information to protect the
privacy of the patient involved in the sanction. It can be researched
through her medical license, however.
We recently posted a story on the bizarre and twisted tale of Vernon C.
Seitz, Part I. The question should be asked as to why Seitz is not being
further looked into as potentially being involved in other missing person
cases in the area? Police seized over 500 pieces of evidence including male
child porn, bondage equipment, a book titled "Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of
Cannibalism and children's shoes. Are we really supposed to believe that
there is no connection and that Vernon C. Seitz's twisted actions were
harmless?
"We have no information to substantiate any allegation that the deceased
[suspect] was involved in any missing children cases or homicides of
children," police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said in a statement released
Wednesday morning.
Let's take that statement for dissection, if you will. Aren't there at least
three corroborating accounts this man drove 7+ hours to meet Wetterlings
parents and participate in the search, twice? Evidence and corroboration by
his therapist that he traveled and participated in searches for missing
young boys across the Midwest drew and painted pictures of naked male
children does not a call to the FBI warrant, apparently. Pun intended.
"We have exhausted all possible angles in this case. If we receive credible
information that warrants investigation, we will pursue it." A search of
Seitz's late-mother's home in Racine also turned up nothing, Schwartz said.
Notably, they have not searched the residence of Vernon Seitz, Sr. It is
located 147mi North East of Jr's homes and exactly 37 miles from the farm of
Edward Lanphear. Mr. Lanphear is currently incarcerated facing 400 years in
the Big house for forcible rape and kidnapping of 2 young men
simultaneously. There was also bondage devices in Lanphear's basement and
garage, as well as other similar items to those found in the Seitz home. His
plea deal is pending a psych evaluation, and most experts do not think
Lanphear acted alone, or that this was his first offense.
The former head of Wisconsin's FBI office, though, thinks Seitz's confession
could be believable.
"I think it would be something to take very seriously and coupled with what
was found through the search warrant, I would give it great credibility,"
said retired agent Mike Santimauro.
Just prior to press I spoke to Agent Leonard Piece, Media Coordinator, FBI-
Milwaukee office; Agent Piece confirmed there has been no request from MPD
for assistance in any capacity in this case.
Skeeve From The Hood
Tony Szuta, 28, remembered going to Vern's Barber Shop for haircuts between
the ages of 9 and 12 while he was growing up in Cudahy. "When he talked to
you, it was like he was looking through you. There was something up with the
guy. We could never figure out what it was," Szuta said. Seitz showed Szuta
and his friend's paintings and drawings Seitz had done, but nothing seemed
disturbing, Szuta said.
One friend told Szuta that Seitz had asked if he could portray him in a
drawing.
Richard Francel was close friends with Seitz. "(He was) just a relaxed, easy
going guy. Very knowledgeable. Very intelligent," Francel said. Richard
Francel was close friends with Seitz.
Francel said police interrogated him after Seitz's death. But, Francel said
he never knew about his friend's collection of child pornography or his
alleged confession. "No. he was never like that," Francel explained.
Near Vern's Barber Shop in St. Francis, Lynne Bartholomew, owner of Lynne's
Scizzory, a hair salon next door, said she knew Seitz for nine years. "He
would come in and ask for a cup of coffee and tell me about his life, which
was pretty scary, actually," Bartholomew said. She said Seitz told her he
was abducted from the Racine zoo as a boy by men who molested him and forced
him to shoot and kill another boy.
Bartholomew said Seitz also claimed to have shot and killed a man who robbed
him in his home three years ago and that he had killed two men in Chicago
some years ago.
Bartholomew said Seitz had a particular interest in boys that made her and
some of her customers "uncomfortable."
"You get an eerie feeling from someone you just say stay away from them,"
said neighbor Shannon Crawford. "I'm very glad I didn't let [my kids] go
over there more often."
Elementary school teacher and Sister-in-law Susan Seitz, though, said Vernon
was abducted and abused as a boy and believes his interest in child
abductions stemmed from this experience.
"I guess it just goes to show you don't really know the secrets of your
neighbors," said Jordan Burich, who lives near Seitz's house. "We really
didn't know what was going on, but when [investigators] brought a
jackhammer, we knew there was something more nefarious going on."
continues at link posted above.