The Chilling ‘Suitcase Murders’: How Steven Zelich Met Two Women Online Before Their Bodies Were Found in Abandoned Luggage

The discovery of two suitcases abandoned beside a rural Wisconsin road in June 2014 uncovered a disturbing double-murder case that would shock investigators and devastate two families. The victims, Jenny Gamez, 19, and Laura Simonson, 37, had met Steven Zelich online years apart. Zelich, a former Wisconsin police officer, eventually pleaded guilty to crimes connected to both women’s deaths and received a combined prison sentence of 70 years.

The case began to unravel when a highway worker mowing grass near Geneva, Wisconsin, came across two suitcases along the roadside. Inside were the remains of two women, but identifying them was not easy. The condition of the bodies made the investigation more difficult, and authorities had to examine evidence and pursue leads across state lines. One victim was later identified as Simonson, a Minnesota mother of seven who had been reported missing by her family in November 2013. The second was identified as Gamez, a young woman from Oregon whose disappearance had not initially prompted the same level of concern because her loved ones believed she might have moved away.

As investigators retraced the women’s final known movements, they discovered that both had connected with Zelich through online communities. Simonson had been communicating with a user known as “Mrhandcuffs,” whose identity was eventually linked to Zelich. He had previously worked as a patrol officer in West Allis, Wisconsin, but resigned in 2001 following an internal investigation into allegations that he had abused his position while dealing with women. At the time, investigators looking into Simonson’s disappearance had questioned Zelich, but they initially lacked sufficient evidence to connect him to a crime.

The investigation changed dramatically after the suitcases were discovered. DNA recovered from rope associated with one of the victims matched Zelich, providing a crucial link between him and the deaths. Authorities later determined that Gamez had traveled from Oregon to Wisconsin in 2012 to meet him. More than a year later, Simonson met Zelich at a hotel in Rochester, Minnesota. Zelich told investigators that both women had died during sexual encounters involving choking, claiming that their deaths were accidental. However, he had kept their bodies rather than reporting what had happened, eventually placing them in suitcases and leaving them along a rural road.

The legal proceedings brought separate convictions in the two cases. In 2016, Zelich pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in connection with Gamez’s death, along with concealing her body. He received a 35-year prison sentence. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Simonson’s death and received another 25 years, to be served after his Wisconsin sentence. He also received an additional 10 years for hiding corpses in Walworth County. Together, the sentences totaled 70 years in prison. PEOPLE reported that Zelich later filed a post-conviction motion seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in Gamez’s case; it was unclear from the report whether that plea had been withdrawn.

Beyond the courtroom, the case left lasting grief for the women’s families and friends. Gamez’s loved ones had spent years without knowing what had happened to her, while Simonson’s family struggled with the loss of a mother whose children meant everything to her. Their stories were brought back into the public eye in October 2026, when ABC’s 20/20 revisited the murders in a television episode examining how the investigation unfolded and how investigators ultimately identified the person responsible.

Today, Zelich is serving his sentence at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, according to the state’s Department of Corrections, as reported by PEOPLE. The case remains a grim reminder that people met online may conceal important parts of their lives, and that missing-person investigations can require painstaking work across jurisdictions before the truth emerges. For Gamez and Simonson’s families, the convictions provided legal answers, but they could never undo the loss of two women whose lives ended tragically.

Source: PEOPLE