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MEQUON (AP)A man accused in the 1987 rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl who was on a bicycle ride is a serial killer who preyed on young girls he found alone in rural areas, a police chief said Friday.James A. Duquette Jr., charged Thursday with the murder of Tara Kassens of the town of Cedarburg, is a “devious and cruel” torturer who should never “see daylight again,” Chief Patrick Call said.Duquette was sentenced to life in prison plus five years for the 1980 torture killing of an 18-year-old Appleton waitress. That term is to be served after his life sentence forthe 1988 rape of a 13-year-oldMassachusetts girl.Duquette’s method was to grab a young girl riding a bike and rape her in a wooded area at knifepoint, Call said.66This is a cold, calculated, devious crimeplanned. He was out on the prowl.”Police Chief Patrick Callview with a cellmate of Duquette’s while he was jailed in OutagamieCounty in 1990. The inmate told police Duquette admitted killing Tara and described grisly, violent, sexual acts.“That led to our decision he’s our man,” Call said.Duquette, 33, was “out on the prowl” while visiting relatives in nearby Thiensville when he met Tara June 30, 1987, Call said.A criminal complaint states that Duquette asked Tara for directions and when she refused to help him he grabbed her off the bicycle and took her to another rural area whereThe Massachusetts girl was riding a bike when she encountered Duquette.he beat, raped and killed her.Tara’s naked body, her skull fractured, was found four days later, a few feet from her bicycle, in the underbrush alongside the roadway in Mequon.The complaint includes an intersaid. “Police intervention prevented further harm to the girl.” At the time of Duquette’s arrest, a newspaper story about Tara’s murder was found in his wallet. Call said.Duquette “got some kicks” out of keeping the article, which described the girl’s torture and mutilation, Call said.Ozaukee County District Attorney Sandy Williams on Thursday filed first-degree murder, second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment charges — all as a habitual criminal — against Duquette.The charges carry a sentence ofAnother inmate told police Duquette talked about killing Tara and said he “liked to drag his victim to the ground and strike them in the face as a way of controlling them before raping them.”The inmate said Duquette also admitted having sex with the girl after she was dead “because he got off on it.”“This is a cold, calculated, devious crime — planned,” Callsaid. “He was out on the prowl.” Duquette, formerly of Appleton, fled to Massachusetts after the Kassens’ murder and was later arrested in Southampton after police found him in a car with the 13-year-old girl.“He repeatedly raped the girl while armed with a knife,” CallGirlphoto helps official ‘keep focusedPolice ChiefMEQUON (AP) —Patrick Call placed a picture of Tara Kassens in his breast pocket when the murdered girl’s body was found in June 1987. It remained* 1there for 4'/2 years.Call said Friday he is prepared to break the daily habit of placing the smiling girl’s picture next to his heart, but he’s waiting for her accused killer, James A. Duquette Jr., to be formally charged in court.“In the morning, she’s the first thing I see,” Call said. “When he gets charged, it will come out. He’s our man, even if the case is lost.The Kassens’ case, one of the most grisly crimes to occur in this rural community about 15 miles north of Milwaukee, was one of the city’s two unsolved murders.The 14-year-old girl disappeared June 30, 1987, while riding her bicycle near her town of Cedarburg home. Her body — tortured, raped, beaten and mutilated — was foundquon’s police chief. The case consumed his thoughts, month after month, although police had few clues to pursue.That changed a year later, when Duquette, 33, was arrested in Massachusetts on a kidnapping charge and a newspaper story on Tara’s murder was found in his wallet.Call said discovery of the article was initially the key link to Tara’s death. “After that it was alltil Thursday, when the Ozaukee County district attorney filed first-degree murder, sexual assault, false imprisonment and kidnapping charges against Duquette.“I firmly believe we do have the right man,” Zupnik said Friday.Duquette, jailed in Outagamie County, may not be charged formally in a court appearance for several months, Call said.After Duquette appeals his murder conviction in theleg work,” he said.Detective Mark Zupnik pursued the lead. He traveled to Massachu-Preimesberger case, he would be returned to Massachusetts to com-Associated Pressfour days later, concealed in the roadway underbrush.Since then, Call placed the girl’s picture in his pocket every morningand removed it each night into adresser drawer.he said.Mequon Police Chief Patrick Call holds up a photo of Tara Kassens,a 14-year-old girl who wasmurdered 4Vz years ago. Call said he has carried the girl’s photo daily since she was killed.* *“I look at it every day,“It’s something to keep, to keepmy mind focused.”Tara’s murder occurred just afew months after Call, 59, a 30-year veteran of the Milwaukee Police Department, became Me-setts to talk to Duquette, but the former Appleton man refused to cooperate, he said.Zupnik questioned Duquette’s fellow employees and friends, including Jeffrey P. Whitman, who said Duquette murdered an Appleton girl in 1980 after they raped her, Call said.That information led to murder charges against Duquette in the torture death of 18-year-old Anne Preimesberger, for which he was convicted this year and sentencedto life in prison plus five years.The Kassens investigation still moved “slowly, methodically and tediously” for three more years un-plete four concurrent life sentences for a rape conviction.Only then could authorities seek his extradition to Ozaukee County, Call said.“This thing can go on for a long time,” he said. “We aren’t doing anything else at this point.”GOINGOUTBUSINESS%0FFlife imprisonment plus 64 years. Although Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, Call described Duquette as an “excellent candidate” for such a punishment.“I feel men like this — serial murderersare people that are not going to be cured. They have no place in society,” Call said. “We can’t have these people out on the streets or in the prisons.” Although Tara’s clothes were never recovered, “there is physical evidence involved in the case” andinformants’ testimony, Call said.“We have informants in this case. You’ll learn about them,” said Call, who criticized a media lawsuit seeking police reports on the Kassens’ investigation.“Investigations have to remain confidential,” he said. “Our investigation is not over.f *SHIP YourChristmas ParcelsVWIIMIl)av or Nigh! atU-SHIPFREE packaging when shipping at Oakwood Mall thru Christmas1O.ini •* 1 (ipm) . II •Ship at Randall Foods 24 HoursGive A GiftThey Will LoveAmericanTouristerA MtUXNMAM) INUAmmerkyCHRISTMAS50% offLUGGAGE1311 N. Broadway Mcnomonia235-£870CHIPPEWA VALLEY TRAVEL1801 S. Hastings Way Eau Claire 804-8870Carlson Travel Network31 E. 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Newspaper Details
Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Dec 14, 1991
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Brandi W.
GA, USA 07 Sep 2021
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