Husband Arrested For Murder Of Wife In 29-Year-Old Cold Case

COLUMBIA COUNTY, WIS. – Authorities in Wisconsin have cracked a nearly 30-year-old cold case involving the shooting death of a Wonder Lake woman. Mark W. Bringe, 70, was arrested this past week and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 1988 shooting death of his wife, Lorelei "Lori" J. Bringe. The 30-year-old cold case was reopened as a homicide in 2014 by the sheriff's office in Columbia County, Wis., and lead authorities to arrest Mark in Arizona on Monday.

On Aug. 19, 1988, Bringe's body was found with a single gunshot wound to the left side of her head in a wooded area off Butternut road just west of Poynette, Wis. Mark told authorities she had committed suicide.

A criminal complaint filed in Columbia County, Wis., states the medical examiner had a hard time determining a manner of death at the time since Lorelei Bringe's body had been cleaned and embalmed before the autopsy was performed, according to the Northwest Herald.

An investigation into the death turned up few leads and the case went cold, according to a news release.

Authorities in Wisconsin reopened the case as a homicide in 2014. The Northwest Herald reports "investigators were able to rely on DNA evidence to cast a new light on circumstances surrounding Lori Bringe’s death."

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office, state of Wisconsin Department of Justice and Division of Criminal Investigation special agents spent the next couple years needling through case files, reviewing and testing evidence and interviewing witnesses. A criminal complaint revealed that in 2017, Lorelei's body was exhumed and a forensic pathologist re-examined it, according to the Northwest Herald.

The criminal complaint states police also learned Mark collected $32,000 from a life insurance policy following his wife's death, according to the Northwest Herald. He also received a mortgage insurance policy, which paid off his home.

Investigators obtained a warrant and searched Mark Bringe's home in Arizona on June 13, 2017, according to authorities. And on Monday, Wisconsin investigators and the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested Mark Bringe. Bringe is currently awaiting extradition back to Wisconsin.

“This was a hard case to investigate and without the diligence and perseverance of the DCI special agents and Sheriff’s Office investigators, this murder would have gone unsolved," Columbia County Sheriff Dennis Richards said in a news release.

Mark Bringe has been charged with first degree murder while armed with a dangerous weapon.

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