Oconomowoc Focus Article - December 1, 2005

Karren Kraemer said she has been living a slowly dawning nightmare since Dec. 13, 2003.
That was the last day anyone saw her daughter, Becky Marzo, then 23, alive.

Marzo was living with her boyfriend in the 3100 block of North 5th Street in Milwaukee, where she was last seen in the late evening hours.

Kraemer said she believes her daughter was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her 37-year-old boyfriend.

A spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department said the unsolved case is open and under investigation.

The Oconomowoc mother's pain and persistence over finding out what happened to her daughter has led her to organize a vigil Dec. 11 at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

The vigil will be held at 1 p.m. and Kraemer said she hopes the gathering will bring attention to Marzo's case.

Representatives of the Carol Sung Foundation will be on hand to announce a reward for the recovery of Marzo's remains and for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for her disappearance.

Kraemer said a speaker from the Sojourner Truth House will speak about domestic violence at the vigil, as well as spokespersons for the Wisconsin Advocates for Missing Persons and the Coalition for Missing in the Midwest.

Kraemer said she and her family became aware of Marzo's violent relationship when her daughter came to them after been beaten by her boyfriend in March 2003. She suffered a broken nose, had hunks of her hair pulled out and had been choked.

Marzo, at her family's insistence, made a complaint to police and battery charges were filed against the man, who had a prior record for domestic disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.

Kraemer said that after the battering, Marzo left the state and went to Florida with friends to work for two months.

Upon returning, despite her family's grave concern, Marzo resumed her relationship with the man and discontinued communication with her family, Kraemer said.

At subsequent court dates for the battery charge, Marzo failed to appear and, as a result, the case was dismissed.

Kraemer said she believed her daughter was afraid for her life and that of her family.

Co-workers at a Milwaukee Target store where Marzo worked later told Kraemer that she continued to suffer beatings from her boyfriend and often came to work bruised and depressed.

In January 2004, Kraemer said she began leaving messages on her daughter's cell phone, all of which went unanswered. The fact that her phone was still in service led Kraemer to believe she was OK.

But by June, Kraemer said, she began to become alarmed. The death of Marzo's grandfather and a brother's accident had occurred with no word from her.

The family had never met Marzo's boyfriend, and believed her relationship with the man was keeping her away, but Kraemer said the loss of her grandfather would have brought her home, regardless.

Kraemer said she began calling friends, co-workers and Marzo's ex-husband for news of Marzo. Alarmed, Kraemer tried tracking down her daughter's boyfriend, unsure of his whereabouts.

Kraemer said that by the time she went to the Milwaukee Police Department to file a missing persons report, she knew in her heart her daughter was dead.

Police questioned the boyfriend, who Kraemer said lied about her daughter, characterizing her as a drug addict, prostitute and runaway.

Kraemer said the lies compounded the family's pain and may have contributed to a lack of urgency police seemed to exhibit in the early stages of the case.

Kraemer said, to her knowledge, her daughter had never been involved in any kind of illicit behavior. She noted that to be employed at Target, she would have had to pass drug testing.

"Becky was a great kid growing up," Kraemer said. "She was never in any trouble and was your typical high school 'band' kid, traveling with her high school band and having fun."

Kraemer said her daughter always gravitated toward the underdog, or the person most needing help, and that she applauded her for her compassion - a compassion she now says might have cost her her life.

"She loved this man and, like many abused women, isolated herself from her family," Kraemer said.

Becky Marzo was one of five children Kraemer and her husband, David, have raised, two of who are Oconomowoc High School grads.

Kraemer said she feels like she has been fighting an uphill battle to find out Becky's fate, but at least now, experts in the field are starting to listen.

In August, Marzo's plight and information was entered into the National Criminal Investigative Center database, and she is listed as a missing person on state and national missing persons Web sites.

In addition, Kraemer's efforts to find her daughter have attracted the support and attention of high profile prosecuting attorney Ellen Corcella, and the services of a local private investigator, both of who are working on the case pro bono.

"Both believe there is enough evidence to support a case of homicide and a civil suit of wrongful death," Kraemer said.

Milwaukee Police Public Information Officer Annie Schwartz said the department is looking at all options in Marzo's disappearance. The case is now in the hands of the Sensitive Crime Unit.

"Becky was a wonderful person and she didn't deserve to die like this." Kraemer said.

Kraemer said she hopes the vigil will help people understand the urgency of helping victims of domestic abuse.

According to a domestic violence Web Site, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that in 1996, among all female murder victims in the U.S., 30 percent were slain by husbands or boyfriends.

One-third of all female homicide victims are killed by husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends or ex-boyfriends and more than twice as many women are killed by their husbands or boyfriend as are murdered by strangers, the Web site said.

According to government statistics, on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 1999, 1,642 murders were attributed to intimates; 74 percent of the murder victims (1,218 total) were women.

Females accounted for 39 percent of the hospital emergency department visits for violence-related injuries in 1994 . They account for 84 percent of those treated for injuries inflicted by intimates.

Family violence costs the nation from $5 to $10 billion annually in medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism and nonproductivity.

Anyone with information about Becky Marzo's disappearance is asked to call the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 935-7403.

©Oconomowoc Focus 2006