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Police: Boyfriend Confesses to 2006 Homicide

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. — A man walked into a southwestern Wisconsin police station and confessed to killing his girlfriend almost four years ago, authorities said Monday.

Prairie du Chien police Chief Chad Abram said in a statement that Michael John Burroughs, 26, entered his station around 9:30 a.m. Sunday and told officers he killed 23-year-old Shannon Fischer.

The La Crosse Tribune newspaper, citing court documents, reported online Monday that Burroughs told police he got into an argument with Fischer on Dec. 18, 2006 and that he choked her until she stopped breathing. The documents said he kept her body in a closet for several days, then dumped it in a garbage container.

Burroughs was taken into custody on Sunday afternoon. He was being held on a $250,000 cash bond on Monday.

Crawford County District Attorney Tim Baxter said he will charge Burroughs with first-degree homicide and perhaps strangulation and concealing a corpse, the Tribune reported.

Burroughs’ next court appearance is set for Oct. 18. His attorney, public defender Rose Oliveto, declined to comment.

Police Sgt. Kyle Teynor told The Associated Press it is not clear why Burroughs chose to confess.

Fischer, a mother of two, was last seen at her apartment the day Burroughs said he choked her. Her

Her mother, Diane Bouzek, told WKBT-TV in La Crosse in January 2007 that she called Burroughs after her daughter disappeared. He told her “I got rid of her, she was annoying,” Bouzek said.

Mike King, then the police chief in Prairie du Chien, told the television station Burroughs said he meant he had broken up with Fischer.

Teynor declined to comment on any specifics in the investigation.

“Our department is relieved, yet we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Teynor said. “This is by no means closure to this case. We have investigators working solely on this case round the clock.”

Prairie du Chien, a city of about 5,700, lies on the Mississippi River about 100 miles west of Madison.