A 12-person jury will decide if an Oconto Falls man, after a night of drinking, shot and killed a Green Bay teenager 15 years ago.
Peter J. Hanson, 52, of Oconto Falls, faces one count of intentional homicide — party to the crime, for the death of Chad McLean, 19, who died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. McLean’s body was found on March 22, 1998, in the Pensaukee River in Abrams, one month after he was reported missing.
The charge of party to homicide means the individual either committed the crime or assisted someone else.
Special prosecutor Vince Biskupic, after Hanson’s initial appearance in April, said prosecuting a 15-year-old case has both challenges and advantages.
“Memories fade and you have to make sure you have witnesses who have their memories properly refreshed, but sometimes time yields better evidence and people feel more comfortable coming forward,” he said.
One key witness, Hanson’s wife, Kathy, is deceased. Kathy told investigators in a 2009 interview that her husband came into their home with blood on his hands, acting scared, on the night McLean went missing.
A breakthrough in the cold case came after a John Doe investigation last November.
Hanson was charged with the crime in March, bringing some relief to the family and friends of McLean and to residents of Abrams, where the crime is alleged to have taken place. According to a criminal complaint, Hanson shot McLean in a shed behind Hanson’s Abrams home after a night of drinking.
The complaint, which includes testimony from the John Doe hearing, states McLean had been in Oconto County with a friend on Feb. 22, 1998, when the two stopped at a home in Abrams on their way back to Green Bay. Hanson and his friend, Charles Mlados, stopped at the Abrams home also, where they all drank beer together.
McLean and his friend argued, and the friend didn’t give McLean a ride back to Green Bay, the criminal complaint states. It was arranged for Mlados, then of Green Bay, to provide a ride for McLean, who wanted to be at work the next morning.
In an interview with law enforcement in 1998, Mlados said he decided he did not want to give McLean a ride to Green Bay because of a dense fog and instead went with Hanson and McLean to an Abrams truck stop, where he reportedly left McLean to find his own ride. A manager at the truck stop told investigators the employees did not see McLean that night, and McLean never returned to his Green Bay duplex.
Mlados, 54, of Oconto Falls, is scheduled to go on trial in February. Like Hanson, he faces charges of first degree intentional homicide — party to the crime, for allegedly acting as an accomplice. While Hanson allegedly pulled the trigger, Mlados reportedly helped hide the body and the gun.
Mlados also faces two counts of perjury for allegedly lying about the case to a judge at the John Doe hearing. In September, a judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf on all counts.
Hanson pleaded not guilty to the homicide charge in April. Both men face life imprisonment if convicted of homicide.
Ten days have been scheduled for Hanson’s trial, beginning with jury selection Tuesday and opening arguments and the first witnesses Wednesday. Up to 40 witnesses are scheduled to testify.
The jury, with two alternates, was selected from a pool of 80 Oconto County residents.
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