MONROE — In the winter of 2021 authorities contend the deadly truth came out in several different interviews with Logan Kruckenberg-Anderson, the Albany teen accused of killing his newborn infant Harper and leaving her in a fallen tree, covered in snow.
“You did shoot Harper, and you didn’t tell me that in the first interview,” said Special Agent James Pertzborn, of the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, in video-taped testimony Thursday before Green County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Vale.
Kruckenberg-Anderson, in custody at the Rock County Jail at the time of a subsequent interview, Jan. 11, 2021, went on to describe shooting Harper twice with a .22 caliber gun and leaving her in a downed tree not far from his Albany home. Ultimately, on the night of the first interview, he led police to her 5-day-old body but did not initially reveal that she had been shot.
Kruckenberg-Anderson, 16, at the time of the murder, is being tried as an adult in the case. He is charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of moving/ hiding/burying the corpse of a child.
If convicted, Kruckenberg-Anderson faces life in prison.
As part of his upcoming trial, Kruckenberg-Anderson’s defense team in Thursday’s hearing argued to suppress his statements to police during a series of three interviews following the baby’s disappearance: One beginning after midnight on Jan. 9 and early on Jan. 10 at the Brodhead Police station as authorities continued to frantically search for the missing child; another at the Albany police station after leading police to the infant’s lifeless body; and a third one while in custody for the crime at Rock County Jail.
Clean-cut and looking every bit his young age, the defendant sat mute in a jail-issue jumpsuit throughout the late afternoon hearing.
The prosecution emphasized the voluntary nature of all the Pertzborn interviews, the fact that the defendant was free to go at any time during the first two; and that he had been repeatedly read his Miranda rights.
Vale is expected to rule on that motion and others in the weeks ahead, including a separate motion for a change of venue for the trial. District Attorney Craig Nolen said he didn’t expect Vale to immediately rule on the motion to suppress Thursday.
The ordeal of baby Harper led state officials to pass a Safe Haven Laws bill aimed at informing Wisconsin teenagers of their options for safely leaving infants without legal action.
“This bill stems from a tragedy involving a newborn baby, Harper, who was found murdered earlier this year in Green County,” said Rep. Todd Novak, a Republican and co-author of the bill.
In the Green County courtroom Thursday, at one point during the initial interview with Pertzborn, the seasoned detective stopped and confronted Kruckenberg-Anderson on the video.
“I know you are not being truthful with me at his point,” Pertzborn said, after listening to a part of the interview not played in court in which Kruckenberg-Anderson was said to have told a made-up story about what happened to the infant; and that it involved “two bi-racial people no one ever heard of.”
An adult woman was present at Brodhead PD with Kruckenberg-Anderson, Denise French, who was described as a longtime mother-figure to the teen. Hearing her sobbing outside the Brodhead interview room, Kruckenberg-Anderson asked detectives if he could hug her and they allowed her to come in and embrace him before continuing with the interview. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she sobbed “I could have helped you.”
Testimony is expected to continue throughout the month, along with jury selection and other pre-trial matters.