Christine Rothschile Madison, WI 1967

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/unsolved/madison_wi/2.html
Christine Rothschild entered the University of Wisconsin in 1967 after having graduated with honors from Senn High School in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents and three sisters lived in a modest home on Chicago’s North Side, where her father worked as president of a local brokerage firm. Christine enjoyed her classes and had hopes of becoming a journalist upon graduation. She was an attractive young woman, with long blondish-brown hair and often spent her summers modeling for department store catalogs.

During spring of 1968, the weather was miserably cold and wet, but Christine kept upbeat by looking forward to a long awaited visit with her family in Chicago. Unfortunately fate intervened and 18-year-old Christine became the first victim of the Capital City serial killer. On a dreary May evening in 1968, a male student discovered her body hidden behind some shrubbery outside of Sterling Hall, a mathematics building located on North Carter Street. After going over the crime scene, investigators theorized that Christine had been killed early that morning while out jogging. The coroner ruled that she had died as a result of at least 12 stab wounds to the chest. As the summer wore on, investigators looked into several suspects, but none proved to be the killer. At one point they offered a $5,000 reward for information relating to the murder, but that also proved to be futile. With no new suspects, a murder weapon, or any leads to follow, the case was placed into a “cold case” folder.

Another possible reason the Rothschild case took the back burner may have been because of an incident that took place on June 29, 1969. At approximately 3:20 a.m., a huge explosion rocked the campus when two sticks of dynamite exploded outside the front doors of the UW Administration Building. The explosion blew a 4-foot hole in the steel-reinforced concrete floor of the entryway. The ceiling of a room below collapsed and over 700 windowpanes were shattered. Luckily, because of the late hour at which the bomb went off, no one was injured in the blast. The faculty senate offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the bomber, but no one ever claimed responsibility and no one was ever arrested for the crime. (more)

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.physics.wisc.edu/alumni/pdf/news04.pdf

The second memory of Sterling Hall came from an event in 1968, when the body of 18-year-old Christine Rothschild was found behind shrubbery outside of Sterling Hall. Christine entered UW-Madison in 1967 after having graduated from Senn High School in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents and three sisters lived in a modest home on Chicago’s North Side, where her father worked as president of a local brokerage firm. Christine had hopes of becoming a journalist after graduation. She was the first victim of the Capital City serial killer. On a dreary May evening in 1968, a male student discovered her body. Investigators theorized that Christine had been killed early that morning while she was out jogging. The coroner ruled that she had died from at least 12 stab
wounds to the chest. Due to lack of leads, and in spite of a $5,000 reward to anyone offering information, her case ended up as a “cold case” folder.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.surroundedbyreality.com/Misc/Crimes/CRMurder.asp
Christine Rothschild entered the University of Wisconsin in 1967 after having graduated with honors from Senn High School in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents and three sisters lived in a modest home on Chicago’s North Side, where her father worked as president of a local brokerage firm. Christine enjoyed her classes and had hopes of becoming a journalist upon graduation. She was an attractive young woman, with long blondish-brown hair and often spent her summers modeling for department store catalogs.

During spring of 1968, the weather was miserably cold and wet, but Christine kept upbeat by looking forward to a long awaited visit with her family in Chicago. Unfortunately fate intervened and 18-year-old Christine became the first victim of the Capital City serial killer. On a dreary May evening in 1968, a male student discovered her body hidden behind some shrubbery outside of Sterling Hall, a mathematics building located on North Carter Street. After going over the crime scene, investigators theorized that Christine had been killed early that morning while out jogging. The coroner ruled that she had died as a result of at least 12 stab wounds to the chest. As the summer wore on, investigators looked into several suspects, but none proved to be the killer. At one point they offered a $5,000 reward for information relating to the murder, but that also proved to be futile. With no new suspects, a murder weapon, or any leads to follow, the case was placed into a “cold case” folder.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/284632

SAT., MAY 3, 2008 - 5:30 PM
40-year-old unsolved murder 'a difficult cold case'
By George Hesselberg
608-252-6140
ghesselberg@madison.com
Four decades is a long time to be looking for someone who does not want to be found. It means that only one of you can be successful, either at hiding or finding. In the murder of Christine Rothschild, there is the added skill of remembering.

Christine Rothschild is still dead. To her friends and the few who remember her, the retired detectives, the aging professor, the surviving sister, the murder might have been yesterday.

There are indications, however, that their patience has reached a limit. The trail of the murderer could not get any colder, unless he is dead, too.

On May 26, 1968, young, pretty, blond, opinionated freshman Christine Rothschild was murdered on the UW-Madison campus and her body stuffed behind some bushes at Sterling Hall. Her death notice might have been in the Madison news weeks ago, so fresh and familiar and brutal are the details, so unsolved is the crime, so unresolved are the mysteries.

On the 40th anniversary of Rothschild 's murder, her college friend, Linda Schulko, has arranged for a small group of interested, otherwise disparate parties to gather at 11 a.m. on the campus May 26 for a short ceremony.

"There will be several speakers and a program and a concert from the carillon bell tower, " said Schulko, who was a student from Milwaukee, living in Witte Hall, when her friend was murdered.

"The speakers will be one of Chris' former teachers, and one of the members of the church she went to in Madison, " said Schulko, adding that Arlene Rothschild, younger sister of Rothschild, is also expected, as are retired detectives who worked on -- and still keep tabs on -- the case.

One speaker will be Claudia Card, now an honored UW-Madison philosophy professor, who in 1968 was in her second year at the UW, teaching an honors introduction to philosophy course to 17 students in a classroom on the first floor of Bascom Hall. Christine Rothschild was one of those 17, and Card never forgot her.

"She was an outstanding student, " said Card, "always the first to put her hand up, the one person I have a visual memory of from that class. "

There also may be some members of Rothschild 's high school graduating class at Senn High School of Chicago, which is holding a 40th reunion this month, said Schulko.

Lt. Peter Ystenes, who heads the UW-Madison police department 's detective bureau, said that although the Rothschild murder is "still a cold case," the status is "different than what Linda (Schulko) probably would describe it. "

"We are still working on the case, we have followed up some leads now and again, recontacted people, but it is still a difficult cold case, " he said.

Schulko, who lives in Texas, has her theories, some of which she shared two years ago in a round of publicity in Madison about the murder. She has adopted the ubiquitous "person of interest " phrase for a university employee she believes was, and still should be, a suspect.

"What has changed in the past two years? This past week I shared with the UW campus police information about a person of interest, " she said.

"I have been working since 2004 to get the campus police to forward the case file to the Vidocq Society of Philadelphia, " she said. The society, according to a description on its Web site, is a "fraternal organization comprised of professionals and non-professionals who meet in a social setting to discuss unsolved crimes. " The group only considers requests from police departments, however.

Schulko said the evidence from the Rothschild murder, which was spread between three investigating departments back in 1968, is not all together.

"It 's spread out between the university, the (Dane County) sheriff 's department and the FBI, because different articles were analyzed by different departments, " she said.

All of it is still not in one place, she said, which is something the university police told her would be rectified.

After nearly 40 years, Schulko said her interest in solving the case has not diminished.

"It hasn 't because Chris was my friend, and because her death was brutal. Not only was she stabbed, she was strangled and her gloves were shoved down her throat. It was a heinous crime. She was not deserving of death, but she is certainly deserving of justice.

"I am committed to her case because she was dear to me. I am 59 years old now, and I may only have a few good years left to take care of this problem.

"The other players in this are interested, too. We may never find him, he may have died of natural causes, who knows? The clock is ticking away. "

The Rothschild murder case, claimed Schulko, fell out of the public 's attention quickly because anti-war activities on campus took over the headlines.

"That really took the focus from Chris ' case, there were new tragedies to address, " she said.

As bulging clipping files attest, the murder investigation 's progress, however, did remain in the newspapers and was the focus of media attention during those first years following the crime.

Schulko is not expecting the murderer to show up at the memorial service, but does hope the event will have a positive effect on the investigation.

"I am hoping the service, because of all the recent murders in the campus area, brings attention to the fact that Chris 's case is still unsolved. If you don 't keep bringing things into the limelight, there is absolutely no chance of this case to be solved because there are so many new cases, " she said.

"The victims of old crimes cannot be forgotten simply because there is not a spokesperson to bring it to the attention of the police. The UW-Madison campus police force is small, I know, and they don 't have a lot of resources, but they should have the professionalism. "

Maybe the memorial will "provide a little spark " to that investigation, she suggested.

Schulko said the ceremony is open to anyone interested in attending, and she is expecting retired detectives to attend, also.

"A tribute to someone who died is usually considered to be a personal expression of dedication and love for that person, " she said.

"I am still hopeful, determined and dedicated. "

Ystenes of the UW police described Schulko as a woman "with very good intentions, who wants to push this a little bit. She is pushing, and maybe she is pushing too many buttons, " he said referring to Schulko 's wide net of contacts and persistence in attempting to keep the case in the public eye.

He acknowledged, however, that Schulko correctly describes the status of the evidence from the old case as "scattered. "

"That happens with a lot of cold cases, " Ystenes said. "The FBI or other entities take things to analyze. It has happened through the years. We just decided to make sure that what we have is all the property there is, and we are still trying to pull things from here and there. "

He said the planned memorial is "a good thing. We 'll send some people to it. Recognition of that case is just fine. "

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=749509

Linda Schulko looks back 40.

It was 40 years ago that her 18-year-old friend, Christine Rothschild, was stabbed to death outside Sterling Hall.

"It was a nightmare," Schulko said over the weekend. "Many of the female students were frightened." Many "did not take final exams. Their parents just picked them up and took them home."

"Nothing of this nature had ever occurred on the Madison campus."

Plenty would happen after.

The Wisconsin State Journal once ran a list of unsolved murders in Dane County that included six women, many barely more than girls, murdered between 1976 and 1982: Debra Bennett, Julie Ann Hall, Susan LeMahieu, Shirley Stewart, Julie Speerschneider and Donna Mraz.

All of those murders remain unsolved.

Then there are some of the more recent victims. In January, 31-year-old Joel Marino was stabbed to death.

Last month, it was 21-year-old Brittany Zimmermann's turn. She was reportedly stabbed as well.

It's extremely unlikely there's any link between the murders of people like Christine Rothschild and Brittany Zimmermann.

As Schulko herself points out, even if Rothschild's killer was college-age back then, "at this point he could be almost a senior citizen."

And yet, there is one immutable link between all of them:

Their killers just walked away, and that's a pattern in and of itself.

Blame can't be pointed solely in one direction.

Schulko questions the abilities and experience of the University Police Department. (more at link)

[packy]

I hope they can let the Vidocq Society have a look at the case.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.news.wisc.edu/15269

Memorial Day ceremony to honor slain student Rothschild
May 21, 2008

Family, friends and University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators past and present will gather at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 26, to celebrate and remember the life of slain student Christine Rothschild.

Christine Rothschild a freshman from Chicago, was found murdered near Sterling Hall on May 26, 1968. Despite years of investigation, the case has never been solved.

Linda Schulko, now of Fort Worth, Texas, arranged the event and has continued to publicly advocate for the investigation of her friend's death.

"Grief is a very personal experience and continues to take its toll on those closest to Chris," she says. "She has been dead for twice the length of time she actually lived."

The ceremony will be held at the base of the Carillon Tower on Observatory Drive in front of the Sewell Social Sciences Building, 1180 Observatory Drive.

A musical tribute from carillonneur Lyle Anderson will follow remembrances from Professor Claudia Card of the philosophy department, retired University of Wisconsin Police Department (UWPD) detective Herb Hanson and Marian Sorensen of First Church of Christ, Scientist.

Card taught Rothschild in an honors introduction to philosophy course in 1968 and recently told the Wisconsin State Journal that she still remembers Rothschild.

"She was an outstanding student," Card said, "always the first to put her hand up, the one person I have a visual memory of from that class."

Others expected to attend the ceremony are Christine's sister, Arlene Rotshchild, Chancellor John Wiley, retired Dean of Students Paul Ginsburg, retired Dr. Lou Bernhardt, UWPD assistant chief Dale Burke, associate dean Kevin Helmkamp and other church members and friends.
http://www.news.wisc.edu/story_images/0000/0615/rothschild.jpg

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/284632

1968 murder at UW-Madison still stings

Four decades is a long time to be looking for someone who does not want to be found. It means that only one of you can be successful, either at hiding or finding. In the murder of Christine Rothschild, there is the added skill of remembering.

And to her friends and the few who remember her — the retired detectives, the aging professor, the surviving sister — Rothschild's murder might have been yesterday.

There are indications, however, that their patience has reached a limit. The trail of the murderer could not get any colder, unless he is dead, too.

On May 26, 1968, young, pretty, blonde, opinionated freshman Christine Rothschild was murdered on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, and her body was stuffed behind some bushes at Sterling Hall. Her death notice might have been in the Madison news weeks ago, so fresh and familiar and brutal are the details, so unsolved is the crime, so unresolved are the mysteries.

On the 40th anniversary of Rothschild's murder, her college friend, Linda Schulko, has arranged for a small group of interested, otherwise disparate parties to gather at 11 a.m. on the campus May 26 for a short ceremony.

"There will be several speakers and a program and a concert from the carillon bell tower," said Schulko, who was a student from Milwaukee, living in Witte Hall, when her friend was murdered.

"The speakers will be one of Chris' former teachers, and one of the members of the church she went to in Madison," said Schulko, adding that Arlene Rothschild, younger sister of Rothschild, is also expected, as are retired detectives who worked on — and still keep tabs on — the case.

One speaker will be Claudia Card, now an honored UW-Madison philosophy professor, who in 1968 was in her second year at UW-Madison, teaching an honors introduction to philosophy course to 17 students in a classroom on the first floor of Bascom Hall. Christine Rothschild was one of those 17, and Card never forgot her.

"She was an outstanding student," said Card, "always the first to put her hand up, the one person I have a visual memory of from that class."

There also may be some members of Rothschild's high school graduating class at Senn High School of Chicago, which is holding a 40th reunion this month, said Schulko.

Lt. Peter Ystenes, who heads the UW-Madison police department's detective bureau, said that although the Rothschild murder is "still a cold case," the status is "different than what Linda (Schulko) probably would describe it."

"We are still working on the case, we have followed up some leads now and again, recontacted people, but it is still a difficult cold case," he said.

Schulko, who lives in Texas, has her theories, some of which she shared two years ago in a round of publicity in Madison about the murder. She has adopted the ubiquitous "person of interest" phrase for a university employee she believes was, and still should be, a suspect.

"What has changed in the past two years? This past week I shared with the UW campus police information about a person of interest," she said.

"I have been working since 2004 to get the campus police to forward the case file to the Vidocq Society of Philadelphia," she said. The society, according to a description on its Web site, is a "fraternal organization comprised of professionals and non-professionals who meet in a social setting to discuss unsolved crimes." The group only considers requests from police departments, however.

Schulko said the evidence from the Rothschild murder, which was spread between three investigating departments back in 1968, is not all together.

"It's spread out between the university, the (Dane County) sheriff's department and the FBI, because different articles were analyzed by different departments," she said.

All of it is still not in one place, she said, which is something the university police told her would be rectified.

After nearly 40 years, Schulko said her interest in solving the case has not diminished.

"It hasn't because Chris was my friend, and because her death was brutal. Not only was she stabbed, she was strangled and her gloves were shoved down her throat. It was a heinous crime. She was not deserving of death, but she is certainly deserving of justice.

"I am committed to her case because she was dear to me. I am 59 years old now, and I may only have a few good years left to take care of this problem.

"The other players in this are interested, too. We may never find him, he may have died of natural causes, who knows? The clock is ticking away."

The Rothschild murder case, claimed Schulko, fell out of the public's attention quickly because anti-war activities on campus took over the headlines.

"That really took the focus from Chris' case, there were new tragedies to address," she said.

As bulging clipping files attest, the murder investigation's progress, however, did remain in the newspapers and was the focus of media attention during those first years following the crime.

Schulko is not expecting the murderer to show up at the memorial service, but she does hope the event will have a positive effect on the investigation.

"I am hoping the service, because of all the recent murders in the campus area, brings attention to the fact that Chris' case is still unsolved. If you don't keep bringing things into the limelight, there is absolutely no chance of this case to be solved because there are so many new cases," she said.

"The victims of old crimes cannot be forgotten simply because there is not a spokesperson to bring it to the attention of the police. The UW-Madison campus police force is small, I know, and they don't have a lot of resources, but they should have the professionalism."

Maybe the memorial will "provide a little spark" to that investigation, she suggested.

Schulko said the ceremony is open to anyone interested in attending, and she is expecting retired detectives to attend, also.

"A tribute to someone who died is usually considered to be a personal expression of dedication and love for that person," she said.

"I am still hopeful, determined and dedicated."

Ystenes of the UW police described Schulko as a woman "with very good intentions who wants to push this a little bit. She is pushing, and maybe she is pushing too many buttons," he said, referring to Schulko's wide net of contacts and persistence in attempting to keep the case in the public eye.

He acknowledged, however, that Schulko correctly describes the status of the evidence from the old case as "scattered."

"That happens with a lot of cold cases," Ystenes said. "The FBI or other entities take things to analyze. It has happened through the years. We just decided to make sure that what we have is all the property there is, and we are still trying to pull things from here and there."

He said the planned memorial is "a good thing. We'll send some people to it. Recognition of that case is just fine."

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-oldmurder,0,3636683.story

MADISON, Wis. - Friends and family will be remembering a woman who was murdered 40 years ago Monday while a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Christine Rothschild, or Chris as her friends called her, was found stabbed to death in the bushes in front of Sterling Hall on campus in 1968.

Police have followed several leads in the decades since her death, but they've never been able to find her killer.

Linda Schulko, Chris' college friend, is still actively pursuing her own investigation. She's back in Madison Monday on the anniversary of Rothschild's death. The public is invited to Monday's ceremony.

Schulko says the families of recent murder victims Brittany Zimmermann and Joel Marino must keep track of the investigations.

[Mysticalmom]

http://wkow.madison.com/News/index.php?ID=21898
Friends, family remember murdered UW student after 40 years


On May 26, 1968, UW student Christine Rothschild was found stabbed to death outside Sterling Hall on campus. Her murder has never been solved.

"It's been a horrible, long, life-dragging experience," said Linda Schulko, a college classmate of Christine's and organizer of today's memorial service.

Inside the Social Sciences Building, about two dozen people came to remember Christine.

Some of them knew her well -- her sister, Arlene, spoke about the loss.

"It left a hole in my heart that aches to this very day," said Arlene Rothschild.

Others didn't know her at all.

Members of the UW Police Dept. and even Chancellor John Wiley came to pay tribute.

UW Police maintains an active detective looking into the case. They pledge to try to solve the murder.
http://wkow.madison.com/Images/rothschild_wkow.jpg