The state Department of Justice released new details Thursday into the October murders of six people in Crandon by an off-duty sheriff 's deputy who later killed himself. But it 's unclear whether the actual autopsy reports will ever be made public.

In a letter to the State Journal, DOJ records custodian Steven P. Means said the agency cannot release copies of the autopsy reports because it doesn 't have them.

And Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz, who said he has the original reports prepared by the Fond du Lac County medical examiner 's office, said Thursday he won 't release them.

Stenz said state law allows a prosecutor to withhold such records. He also said the public interest in disclosing the records is outweighed by the privacy interests of the relatives of the deceased.

Stenz and Kevin St. John, a DOJ spokesman, said summaries of the autopsies written by investigators and disclosed by the agency accurately reflect the original reports. Those summaries found soot rings around the three bullet wounds to Tyler Peterson 's head, suggesting the shots were fired at close range, and that only one of the shots -- the fatal one -- entered Peterson 's brain.

But Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said the original reports should be released.

"What check exists on the public officials who wrote the report if the public can 't have access to the underlying documentation? " Lueders said. "What 's stopping them from making something up that isn 't backed up by the underlying documentation? "

Peterson, a Forest County sheriff 's deputy, shot and killed six people and wounded another early Oct. 7 before killing himself with three bullets to the head.

On Feb. 7, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that members of local law enforcement acted properly when they responded to the murders, and he released more than 1,000 pages of material regarding the investigation.

Those documents included summaries of the autopsy reports, but not the reports themselves.

The State Journal then reiterated its request for the complete investigative file on the Crandon report, including the autopsy reports. But St. John said the department no longer has the reports, having turned them over to Stenz. St. John said it 's common for DOJ not to keep such reports.

Means said additional documents might be released pending further review. St. John said those could include text messages sent or received by Peterson or those he shot.