Franklin missing person case being treated as homicide
The Franklin Police Department is now handling the longtime missing woman Sandra Eckert’s case as a homicide and said two people are of interest in the case.
Eckert, 70, went missing on March 26, 2021, after she left her Franklin residence following an argument with her husband, Wes Eckert Sr.
In an update Friday, Franklin police confirmed that they executed a search warrant at a Waukesha home on June 7, 2022, in relation to the case for first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. A man was arrested at the home, but was later released.
No one is in custody for the disappearance or homicide of Eckert, but police confirmed they have two people of interest, and that both people were known to Eckert.
Sandra Eckert, at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at 11:30 p.m. that Friday at her home in the 7200 block of South North Cape Road.
Sgt. Jeremy Fadness said in April that Franklin police were following numerous leads. The investigation has led to checking bodies of water near where Sandra Eckert’s car was last spotted. Eckert’s gray 2005 Dodge Stratus sedan (Wisconsin license plate 319LGT) was last seen by the Muskego Police Department at 3 a.m. March 27 traveling south on Crowbar Drive.
Police, via search warrants, confiscated electronic devices and “additional evidence” from Eckert’s home last year, Fadness said. The warrants remain under a court-ordered seal “to protect the integrity of the investigation,” he said.
Eckert’s children told the Journal Sentinel in April that they believe their father might be to blame. Kelsey Eckert and her brother, Wes Eckert Jr., have been suspicious about their father because he has “not assisted in the search in any way,” Wes Eckert Jr. said.
Wes Eckert Sr. has denied having anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.
“Some of my kids think I did something,” he said. “I didn’t, and I didn’t hire anybody to do anything, either.”
Wes Eckert Sr. believes his children’s suspicions are tied to an argument he and Sandra had the night before she disappeared over his late mother’s will. Eckert Sr. said his sisters got more from the will than he did, but he was fine with that because they took care of their mother in her final years.
“My wife was insisting I go up there and contest the will in our favor,” Eckert Sr. said, adding that he refused to do so.
At one point, Wes Eckert Sr. said his wife got dressed and told him “you’ll hear from my lawyer” and appeared to be preparing to leave. He took her car keys and told her they would talk about it the next day. “That’s basically the last I’d seen her,” he said.
According to her husband, Sandra Eckert took several thousand dollars in cash with her when she left. Wes Eckert Sr. theorized her death could be related to the money and foul play.
Franklin Police encourage anyone with information to call the department’s non-emergency number, 414425-2522, and request to speak with Fadness, who is coordinating and supervising the investigation.
The family is offering a $50,000 reward if a tip leads to a conviction.