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Strangulation tookJPathologist describes deep grooves in neck of slain 18-year-old womanAPPLETON (AP)A womanwho authorities say was raped and slain by James A. Duquette Jr. in 1980 had been strangled with her panties so violently that there were grooves in her neck, a pathologist says.“It took real force to make that deep dent and the corresponding bruising,” Dr. Robert Huntington III told jurors in Duquette’s trial in Outagamie County Circuit Court.Huntington described the injuries suffered by 18-year-old waitress Anne Marie Preimesberger while jurors viewed pictures of herwounds.Duquette, 32, who is serving a life prison sentence in Massachusetts for the abduction and rape of a 13-year-old girl, is. charged with first-degree murder in the Wisconsin case.He’s the last of three men to be prosecuted in the April 4, 1980, attack on Preimesberger, whose beaten and stabbed body was found near a U.S. 41 overpass in GrandChute.The other two men have been convicted in plea deals and have agreed to testify that Duquette was the instigator of the attack, in which the victim was raped, beaten, stabbed and strangled, prosecutors said.In testimony Wednesday, state prison inmate Ronald Pahlke testified about comments he said were made by Duquette when they were both held in Outagamie County Jail.Pahlke said Duquette told him he had to kill Preimesberger because she would report the assault and could identify him in court.“He said she died hard, put up aheck of a fight,” Pahlke said.The defense questioned the credibility of Pahlke, who made a plea agreement with authorities that resulted in reduced prison time on an extortion charge.Others who were jailed with Duquette also testified about his statements about the slaying.Huntington testified a pair of panties had been wrapped around Preimesberger’s neck, and she was wearing only boots and a sock around her wrist when he first inspected her body.An autopsy revealed that Preimesberger was strangled with the panties and the strangulation was aided by blunt injuries to her abdomen and head, Huntington told jurors.Huntington said the panties were pulled so tightly during the strangulation that they caused deep grooves in the victim’s neck.Bruises and injuries to Preimesberger’s face and skull were caused by “something a good deal stronger than a love pat,” he added.Huntington said Preimesberger sustained severe injuries to her liver and spleen, and a pint ot blood was found in her abdominal cavity. The injury to her abdomen could have been caused by a single blow froma fist, he said.“If a fist was used, It was a realwallop,” he said.In testimony Tuesday, one of the men convicted as an accomplice in the attack testified Duquette smirked as Preimesberger begged for her life in the back seat of the car where she was eventually killed.
Newspaper Details
Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Jun 06, 1991
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Brandi W.
GA, USA 07 Sep 2021
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