How we reported this story

In reporting this story, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Gina Barton reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including the autopsy report and records from several agencies that were contained in the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s case file. The Watertown Police Department’s case file was destroyed by the agency several years ago and therefore could not be reviewed.

In addition, Barton reviewed dozens of print and television news reports from the time.

Details and quotes in scenes were obtained through interviews with those present or from police reports, court records, transcripts, archived news reports, video recordings or audio recordings. In a few instances, a person’s thoughts are described. In all such cases, people described their thoughts at the time to the reporter.

Throughout the series, quotation marks indicate a subject’s exact words as written in a transcript, as recalled by a party to the conversation or as stated to a reporter, either now or at the time of the investigation. Italics indicate statements detailed by a third party in an interview or in an investigative document, such as a police report.

All told, Barton conducted dozens of interviews with those involved in the case.

People who provided information for this chapter include Donna Sutcliffe, Rosie Schulting, Orval Quamme, Teri Mueller and Teri’s caregivers, Pat Hanson and Rita Crawford.

As is often the case with people who are hypnotized, Sutcliffe does not remember what she said while under hypnosis. The details about her conversation with the psychiatrist come from Quamme, who was in the room, witnessed the process and took notes.

Teri does not recall her conversation with Kurczewski. It was recounted in a memo he wrote to Watertown police, which was preserved in the Department of Justice file.