MONROE — The trial of a 16-year-old accused of shooting to death his newborn daughter Jan. 5 will take place in adult court later this year.
Logan Kruckenberg-Anderson, who was arrested Jan. 10, is charged with first degree intentional homicide and moving, hiding or burying the corpse of a child.
Kruckenberg-Anderson waived his preliminary hearing Feb. 12 and pleaded not guilty. A status conference was held April 28. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Aug. 17.
If convicted, Kruckenberg-Anderson faces life in prison on the murder charge and up to 12 years and $25,000 in fines on the concealment charge. He is currently being held at the Green County Jail, after having been originally in the Rock County Juvenile Detention Center in Janesville, on a cash bond of $1 million.
Defense attorney Guy Taylor requested in late January that Kruckenberg-Anderson be waived out of adult criminal court into juvenile court and further court hearings be closed to the public.
Kruckenberg-Anderson will turn 17 this month.
Taylor’s motion was denied by Green County Circuit Judge Thomas Vale after a hearing April 16.
The baby girl was reported missing Jan. 9 after she was born in a private residence Jan. 5, according to the criminal complaint released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The complaint states that the infant, named “Harper” by her mother, was reported missing at 1:30 a.m. by the baby’s grandfather. The man said that his daughter had given birth in the bathtub Jan. 5 and that Kruckenberg-Anderson left with Harper, who had not been seen since.
The baby’s mother told officers that Kruckenberg-Anderson told her that he was going to take Harper to his friend “Tyler,” who would then transport the child to a Madison adoption agency.
Kruckenberg-Anderson told police Jan. 9 that he did not remember Tyler’s last name, place of residence, phone number or license plate. Kruckenberg-Anderson said he paid Tyler $60 to take the baby to an adoption agency, but did not know which one.
On Jan. 10, Kruckenberg-Anderson was interviewed again, this time by a Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation special agent.
Kruckenberg-Anderson told agents that he went to Harper’s mother’s residence the morning of Jan. 5. Her mother and he decided that they could not keep the baby and agreed that he would get rid of the child by leaving her somewhere, such as an adoption agency.
Kruckenberg-Anderson left Harper’s mother’s residence with Harper in his backpack. He went to his mother’s residence before walking into a wooded area in Albany.
Kruckenberg-Anderson said that he then placed Harper inside of a fallen tree.
Harper was found five days later, nude and covered in snow with a gunshot wound to the head.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators who found Harper’s body also found a spent casing next to Harper’s body, as well as a second casing inside the backpack used to transport Harper. A State Crime Lab employee found two fired projectiles in the ground near where the baby’s body was located consistent with the shell casings.
When interviewed again Jan. 10, Kruckenberg-Anderson “admitted to placing the baby into the snow-covered area in the tree and shooting the baby twice in the head with a firearm.”
Kruckenberg-Anderson told investigators that when he placed Harper in the snow and started to cover her with snow, she started crying. According to the criminal complaint, he “started to walk away, but could still hear the infant crying which caused him to emotionally break down, fall to his knees and cry.”