Strange behavior led police to Marino's alleged killer
The alleged killer of Joel Marino was formally charged with first degree intentional homicide Friday morning and is expected to waive his right against extradition so he can be brought back to Wisconsin from Minnesota to face trial.
Adam Charles Peterson, 20, a former UW-Madison student from Grant, Minn., a small town near Stillwater on the Mississippi River, was arrested on Thursday for the murder of Marino, found stabbed in an alley near his home on Madison's south side Jan. 28.
Read the criminal complaint.
"We have a great sense of relief in reaching some closure on this homicide," said Madison Police Chief Noble Wray at a press conference late Friday morning.
Police said Peterson reported a stolen laptop computer to police in January, and police felt his behavior was unusual. He apparently called police once again about the stolen laptop and again raised some concern by police.
Madison police apparently have a database of people who have exhibited strange behavior, the database maintained mainly for the safety of police officers if they need to make contact with the people on the list, but also as an unofficial record of people who might be dangerous.
The police eventually checked on Peterson at his apartment at 431 W. Main St., when his roommates called police, saying Peterson was having issues.
Wray said Peterson was a resident of Madison for less than a year, living at multiple addresses.
"He was enrolled at UW-Madison but dropped his classes last fall and was not a student at the time of the incident," Wray said.
Madison detectives from the South District station went to Washington County, Minn., on Wednesday, Wray said. The detectives made contact with Peterson Thursday and he was placed under arrest.
"DNA samples taken from Peterson were sent to the State Crime Lab, and they matched samples collected at the homicide scene," Wray said.
Capt. James Wheeler of the South District said that police have not yet found a connection between Marino and Peterson, nor have they been able to establish a motive. Peterson has no previous criminal record in Wisconsin.
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz expressed his thanks to the Madison Police Department and their diligence in staying on the case.
"This terrible, tragic crime has been solved through good police work," Cieslewicz said. "We had great confidence in the Madison police in solving this crime."
Unsolved murders can keep a community uneasy, the mayor said.
"There is a sense of relief this crime has been solved," he said.
Wheeler said the Marino case was exhaustively worked.
"We continually evaluated tips and evidence," Wheeler said. "We went through 3,000 mug shots, had 2,400 pages of reports and interviewed 800 people."
Wray said the five months it took to solve the Marino case is not uncommon, because there are more "stranger" homicides today, cases where the victim does not know or is not related to the suspect.
He also said there is no forensic evidence linking Marino's murder to a second unsolved murder, that of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, who was killed April 2 in her downtown apartment.
Submitted photo
Adam Peterson has been arrested in the murder of Joel Marino.
