Local
West Bend police identify man found dead in Washington Street home
West Bend police on Monday named 54-year-old David Slawnikowski as the man found dead inside a Washington Street home Saturday, where a woman, two children and a dog were also found dead and a second girl was hospitalized. Police said the investigation remains active and declined to release the other victims' identities, citing Marsy's Law and the protection of the surviving child.
WEST BEND, Wis. â West Bend police on Monday evening identified 54-year-old David Slawnikowski as the man found dead inside a home on Washington Street over the weekend, as investigators continued to piece together how four people and a dog died in a case that has shaken this Washington County community.
First responders were called to the home Saturday morning and found Slawnikowski, a woman, a boy, a girl and a dog dead inside, according to police. A second girl was taken to a hospital for treatment. Her condition has not been publicly disclosed.
In a news release issued Monday evening, police said Slawnikowski had worked as a Milwaukee police officer and separated from that department in 2012. Milwaukee police confirmed that a person with the same name had served on the force, and sources confirmed it was the same individual. No further details were provided about the circumstances of his departure from the department.
West Bend police declined to release the identities of the other victims, including the two children, citing privacy protections for the surviving child. "Out of respect for the victims, their loved ones, and, most importantly, for the protection of the surviving victim, consistent with the constitutional privacy protections established under Marsy's Law, the identities of the victims will not be released," the department said in its statement.
Marsy's Law, a state constitutional amendment approved by Wisconsin voters, guarantees crime victims and their families a set of rights that includes protections around privacy and being treated with dignity throughout the criminal justice process. Departments across the state have increasingly invoked the provision when declining to name victims, particularly in cases involving surviving family members.
Police said the investigation remains active and asked anyone with information to contact the West Bend Police Department at 262-335-5000.
The deaths have drawn attention from neighbors and residents across the West Bend area, where a quiet residential street became the focus of a multi-agency response over the weekend. Authorities have not released a cause of death or described a suspected sequence of events, and it was not immediately clear whether investigators were treating the case as a homicide, a murder-suicide or another type of incident.
For a city of roughly 32,000 people, the deaths mark one of the most significant violent incidents in recent memory and have raised questions about how the case is being handled and what information will ultimately be made public. Officials have said only that the inquiry is ongoing.
Anyone with information is urged to call West Bend police at 262-335-5000.