Sturzenegger, 88, of Janesville was eccentric and private, living in motels — and she often carried more than $50,000 in her handbag.

Authorities learned of the large sums while giving Sturzenegger aid after finding her asleep outside a store, and another time, lost in her car. Under state law, they couldn't intervene because doctors found her competent.

And a crime waiting to happen did.

Mary Sidoff, a nursing assistant at UW Hospital, learned about the handbag stuffed with stacks of $20 bills during Sturzenegger's mental evaluation there.

Sidoff, a jury found, on Oct. 11, 2005, lured Sturzenegger to Sidoff's rented farmhouse, used her husband's .40-caliber handgun to shoot her in the back of the head and hid her body in a horse pasture.

Mary and David Sidoff had been having financial problems.

The couple spent the money on debts and a buying spree. Mary Sidoff is now appealing her life sentence, and her husband awaits trial for helping spend stolen money.

Sturzenegger is buried at Mount Olive Cemetery in Janesville.