Historic Crime & Court Cases - From the Vault

In this first installment of our Jackson County crime series, we delve into a haunting case that locals still talk about in hushed tones. Jackson County, Wisconsin – home to Black River Falls – has long been marked by eerie tragedies, earning a reputation as a “cursed” place​. A century ago, the region suffered a litany of madness, murder, and despair famously chronicled in Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip. Fast forward to 1989, and it seemed the curse had struck again: the brutal murder of 9-year-old Jennifer Wesho shocked the community and went unsolved for over two decades. This is the story of that crime – a tale of innocence lost, a stalled investigation, and a final twist that brought resolution to one of Jackson County’s darkest chapters.

A Summer Day Gone Wrong in Sand Pillow

On August 5, 1989, the Wesho family’s home in Sand Pillow – a small Ho-Chunk community about five miles east of Black River Falls – was full of summer bustle​s. Relatives and friends gathered that afternoon, and little Jennifer was last seen around 4:00 PM wearing a white blouse and pink shorts, happily walking down the road with a trusted family friend, 38-year-old, Christopher Thundercloud. When Jennifer didn’t return home by nightfall, her parents grew concerned. At first they hoped she might have stayed with a friend or gone to enjoy the Jackson County Fair in town​. But as midnight passed with no sign of their daughter, Jennifer’s father, Clifford Wesho, reported her missing and launched a search in the dark woods around their rural home.

Tragically, the search came to a grim end the next morning. On August 6, Clifford stumbled upon a heartbreaking sight in a wooded area behind their house off Sand Pillow Road – the lifeless body of his little girl​. Jennifer’s body was partially unclothed and had been draped with an olive-green blanket, as if someone tried to conceal her where she fell​. She had visible cuts and bruises, and it was immediately clear that a horrific crime had occurred​.

Authorities rushed to the scene, and an autopsy later confirmed every parent’s worst nightmare: Jennifer had been raped, beaten, burned with lit cigarettes, and strangled to death​. The forensic pathologist noted that some of the cigarette burns occurred after she was already unconscious or dead, and a small shoe imprint was found on her abdomen – signs of prolonged torture. He bluntly described Jennifer’s fate as “a cruel homicide”​.

News of the murder sent shockwaves through Jackson County. The crime was described as an “unspeakable tragedy” for Jennifer’s family and the tight-knit Ho-Chunk community​. How could such evil visit this peaceful village? As family members wept and the community mourned, law enforcement vowed to find the monster responsible for snuffing out the life of an innocent third-grader.

False Leads and a Cold Trail

Investigators from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and the state Department of Justice poured their resources into the case. They combed the woods for clues and gathered potential evidence – including a beer bottle found near Jennifer’s body and scrapings from under her fingernails – hoping for any hint of the killer’s identity​. Early on, officers interviewed Christopher Thundercloud, the family friend who had been with Jennifer shortly before her disappearance​. Thundercloud was described by neighbors as a heavy drinker, often seen intoxicated in public. When questioned by investigators following Jennifer Wesho’s murder, Thundercloud told authorities he could not recall his whereabouts at the time of the crime, citing an alcohol-induced blackout. Not long after the investigation began, he relocated to California, distancing himself from the area where the murder occurred. 

Thundercloud was the last person seen with Jennifer and, as a family acquaintance, naturally a person of interest​. However, “for a variety of reasons, the investigation focused away from Mr. Thundercloud, and on to some other people,” explained Jackson County District Attorney Gerald Fox years later​. With Thundercloud seemingly cleared in the initial stages, the case struggled to move forward.

For months, Jennifer’s killer remained at large. Then, nearly two years after the murder, a shocking development briefly promised justice. In April 1991, police arrested 19-year-old Dion W. Funmaker and charged him with first-degree intentional homicide in Jennifer’s death​. Funmaker was a Ho-Chunk teenager who had been 17 at the time of the crime, and his name had surfaced during the investigation. In fact, he had given an odd statement to police – claiming he stumbled upon Jennifer’s body on the night of the murder – and was able to describe the scene and her clothing in precise detail​. This admission, along with reports from jailhouse informants, put him in the spotlight. Jackson County Sheriff Richard Galster insisted they had reason to charge Funmaker, telling the media, “We would just not pick out someone at random just to satisfy the family.” Inmates at the county jail had allegedly heard Funmaker confess, even though he had no prior criminal record​.

The case against Funmaker rested largely on testimony from his own relatives. According to the criminal complaint, Funmaker’s cousin, Carl McKee, told investigators that Dion confessed privately to him – describing in disturbing detail how he choked Jennifer and burned her with cigarettes​t. Carl’s wife, Heather McKee, backed up this story. In court, Heather recounted overhearing Dion say “I had to kill her,” describing how he had squeezed the child’s throat while abusing her. “He said...‘I had to kill her’... and he said he was squeezing her throat,” Heather testified, claiming she heard Dion describe silencing Jennifer as he tortured her​t. With these chilling statements, it appeared the authorities had their man.

Yet, within just a few weeks, the case against Funmaker collapsed. After Dion spent about 20 days in jail, prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges​. It turned out that investigators had withheld crucial information from the district attorney – evidence that pointed to two other possible suspects in Jennifer’s death​. This disclosure severely undercut the case. Moreover, someone had come forward with incriminating information that cast doubt on Heather McKee’s testimony​. Essentially, the key witnesses’ credibility fell apart, and without their statements the prosecution had no physical evidence tying Funmaker to the crime. 

He was released in May 1991, and in a newspaper interview shortly afterward he professed his innocence: “I have no idea who did it; I hope they find out though. I know I didn’t do it.”​ 

With that, the investigation hit a devastating dead end. Officially, Dion Funmaker remained a “person of interest” – the sheriff believed Funmaker still knew more than he was saying​ – but there wasn’t enough to charge anyone. Jennifer’s murder became a cold case. For the Wesho family, the years that followed were an ordeal of grief and uncertainty. They buried Jennifer in an unmarked grave just a few miles from home, a painful reminder of their loss​. 

Her relatives tried to heal and even spoke of forgiveness. “We have forgiven Jennifer’s killer,”said her uncle Ralph Snake, “even though almost 18 years after her death, we still don’t know who to forgive.”​The family held onto hope that someday the truth would come out – Jennifer’s mother, Sadie, told a reporter in 1999, “We have to remain positive that someday all this will be solved… but the pain of losing Jennifer will always be there.”

​

A DNA Breakthrough and the Killer Revealed

It would take over twenty years, but that long-awaited “someday” finally arrived. In the mid-2000s, Jackson County authorities revisited Jennifer’s case with fresh eyes – and new technology. Evidence from the 1989 crime scene was resubmitted for advanced DNA analysis. Forensic scientists detected male DNA profiles on Jennifer’s clothing, under her fingernails, and on the beer bottle that had been found near her body​. 

In 2007, those DNA samples yielded a match that stunned investigators: Christopher Thundercloud, the family friend who had been with Jennifer just before she vanished​. The same man who had been an early suspect and then set aside in favor of other leads was now implicated by DNA he left on the victim and at the scene. It appeared that the killer had been hiding in plain sight all along.

For reasons not fully explained, law enforcement did not immediately announce Thundercloud’s identification in 2007 – perhaps they were tying up loose ends or awaiting additional confirmation. By early 2011, however, District Attorney Gerald Fox was ready to close the book on the case. In April 2011, Fox called a press conference to share the news with the Wesho family and the public. The decades-old mystery was solved. 

Fox revealed that new forensic reports from the state crime lab conclusively identified Christopher “Chris” Thundercloud as the murderer​. DNA evidence showed that Thundercloud had sexually assaulted Jennifer and then killed her to cover up his crime. “The locations where we found his DNA would suggest… that he killed her to shut her up from screaming or telling what he did to her,” Fox explained, noting that Jennifer had fought back – she had the killer’s DNA under her fingernails​. In other words, the evidence indicated Thundercloud was the one who raped, beat, and burned Jennifer with cigarettes before strangling her in the hours she was missing​.

There would be no dramatic trial or perp walk for this offender. Unbeknownst to investigators, Thundercloud had died in 2006 at the age of 55​, five years before his guilt was confirmed. The one-time-turned-family-friend would never face earthly justice for the unspeakable acts he committed. In a cruel twist, many of Jennifer’s relatives had even attended Thundercloud’s funeral, never suspecting that the man they were mourning was the very killer they had been seeking​. “The person responsible… is dead and no family members are suspected,” DA Fox told the press, bringing a measure of closure to the long-cold case​. Authorities formally closed the case, confident that the truth had finally been uncovered. “We believe we know right now about all that we can possibly know about Jennifer Wesho’s death,” Fox said, underscoring that virtually every question about the crime had been answered.

For Jennifer’s family, the revelation was bittersweet. They would never get to see Thundercloud punished in court, but at last they had the answer they had waited 22 years for. “Hopefully this confirmation will allow our family to find closure and healing,” said Jennifer’s uncle, Ralph Snake, after learning the DNA results​. In Black River Falls, the community – including many who vividly remembered the fearful summer of 1989 – could finally breathe a little easier knowing the mystery was solved. The little girl known for her ever-present smile​ would not be forgotten, and now her true killer had been unmasked.

Echoes of a “Cursed” History

The murder of Jennifer Wesho remains one of the most disturbing crimes in Jackson County’s history, a modern crime with echoes of the past. The sheer brutality of the case and the decades of uncertainty that followed have become part of local lore – a chilling reminder of the darker side of the region. Some point out that Black River Falls and Jackson County have seen an uncanny number of grim events over the years, harkening back to the infamous Wisconsin Death Trip chronicles. “If ever a place was cursed, it was Black River Falls,” one historian wrote, reflecting on the plague of tragedies in the 1890s​. Over a century later, Jennifer’s slaying felt like a continuation of that grim tradition, underscoring that the past is never as far away as we think.

This case also highlights the persistence of law enforcement and family members in pursuing justice. It took advances in DNA technology and a fresh look at old evidence to finally solve what had seemed unsolvable. In the end, the truth emerged from the shadows of the pines behind the Wesho home, proving that even the most “cursed” cases can find resolution. As Jackson County residents reflect on Jennifer Wesho’s story, it stands as a solemn chapter in our community’s history – one that will not be forgotten.

Stay tuned for future installments in this series, where we will explore more of Jackson County’s notable crimes and mysteries, from long-unsolved cold cases to other eerie episodes that have shaped the county’s reputation. Each story, like that of Jennifer Wesho, is a thread in the fabric of our area’s haunted past, reminding us that sometimes truth really is stranger – and darker – than fiction.​ 

Sources:

Local news reports, archival documents, and Wisconsin historical records have been used to compile this account, including reporting by the Leader-Telegram, the La Crosse Tribune, Wisconsin Department of Justice announcements, and true-crime research. These sources provide the factual backbone for this retelling of the Jennifer Wesho case, ensuring that this local true crime story is both compelling and accurate.

Associated Press. (1991, April 26). Teen charged in 1989 murder of Ho-Chunk girl [Archived News Article].

Crochiere, A. (1991, April 4). Man arrested for murder. Leader-Telegram, p. 1.

Crochiere, A. (2011, April 15). While killer roams free, Sand Pillow can't rest. La Crosse Tribune, p. 1.

Harris, S. (1989, August 8). Murder of young girl scars community. La Crosse Tribune, p. 1.

Hoskin, E. (1999, August 9). On the case: After a decade of doubt, police turn to high-tech tests to bring certainty to BRF murder. La Crosse Tribune, p. 1.

Jungen, A. (2011, April 15). Killer named: BRF man identified in girl’s 1989 death. La Crosse Tribune, p. 1.

La Crosse Tribune. (2011, April 15). DNA ties suspect to 1989 murder of 9-year-old girl. https://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/dna-ties-suspect-to-1989-murder-of-9-year-old-girl/article_1e3f52ec-66d5-11e0-9bc1-001cc4c002e0.html

Leader-Telegram. (2011, April 15). DNA solves 1989 homicide of girl in Jackson County. Leader-Telegram. https://www.leadertelegram.com/news/dna-solves-1989-homicide-of-girl-in-jackson-county/article_1128491e-8f34-567e-8924-2300602d3830.html

Lesy, M. (1973). Wisconsin Death Trip. Pantheon Books.

Rupnow, C. (1999, July 25). Emotional wounds: Case open decades later. Leader-Telegram, p. 1.

Rupnow, C. (2011, April 15). Jackson County cold case murder: DNA ties suspect to killing. Leader-Telegram, p. 1.

State of Wisconsin Circuit Court Records. (n.d.). Jackson County Case Files, 1989–2011. 

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (CCAP). https://wcca.wicourts.gov

Trevison, C. (1991, April 5). Slain girl’s parents glad suspect finally arrested. La Crosse Tribune, p. 1.

Waters, R. A. (2011, November 20). Jennifer Wesho murder solved: Killer escapes justice. Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem. https://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2011/11/jennifer-wesho-murder-solved.html

Wisconsin Department of Justice. (2011). Press release: Cold case homicide of Jennifer Wesho solved through DNA evidence. https://www.doj.state.wi.us/news-releases