John Mutter is a writer, and when something gets in his head, his only answer is to write about it.
That’s what he did with Sherry Sumnicht, a Bonduel woman who was murdered Oct. 15, 1975. No one has ever been brought to justice for her death.
“In August of 2022, I began thinking of Sherry Sumnicht,” Mutter said. “I don’t really know why, but she came to my mind every couple of days. Something like this has happened to me in the past, and I know the only way to deal with it is to write about it.”
Over the course of the past three years, he researched and wrote a history of the murder, the trial and his efforts to gather the information. His story is nearly 6,000 words and covers 19 pages.
The full story can be read at www.newmedia-wi.com.
Murder and trial
According to Mutter’s story, on Oct. 14, 1975, Sumnicht, her husband, Chuck, and friends including Roger Lemberg, were drinking at Dan’s Den Bar, 145 N. Cecil St., Bonduel.
Chuck Sumnicht went home about 9:45 p.m., and Sherry Sumnicht stayed at the bar. She and Lemberg left about 1 a.m. and were last seen in his vehicle heading toward Slab City.
Sumnicht was found the next morning by Gerald Schmidt, who was driving a tractor next to a fence under an apple tree in the town of Hartland.
She was still alive, but by the time she arrived by ambulance at the Shawano hospital, she had died. She was severely beaten (five broken ribs, a broken nose and a broken jaw) with no identification.
Early that evening, Chuck Sumnicht called police after hearing about the woman. His wife had not returned home the night before. That night, he identified her body.
By 7:25 p.m., Lemberg was located and placed under arrest.
Eventually, a trial date was set for Jan. 26, 1976. Lemberg was represented by attorney Dan Aschenbrener.
Lemberg said he was too intoxicated the night of the murder to remember anything. Aschenbrener convinced Judge Gordon Myse to allow Lemberg to be hypnotized to help bring back his memory.
Lemberg testified on his own behalf, and his hypnotized recollections were allowed to be heard. He said they were at a bar in Slab City. Lemberg got out of the car to try and call Chuck Sumnicht, and when he returned, Sherry. Sumnicht was gone.
Lemberg’s mother testified he was home around 1:30 a.m. Dr. Donald Schulz testified that based on the nighttime temperatures and Sumnicht’s injuries, she could not have survived outside more than two hours before she was found around 8 a.m.
On the fifth day of the trail, the jury begins deliberations in the late afternoon, and at 11:05 p.m., a not guilty verdict was announced.
Mutter’s research
Mutter first heard of Sumnicht’s death in a letter from his mother in October 1975. As a teenager, he had helped the Sumnichts bale hay at their farm when they lived south of Bonduel.
Mutter started his research by asking his contacts if they knew anything about the case.
“When I first began, I didn’t even know that someone had been charged and that this person (Roger Lemberg) had stood trial for this crime,” Mutter said. “I have never done research on anything like this before.”
Through open records requests, he gathered some information from the Shawano County Clerk of Courts office. However, no one could locate a copy of the trial transcript.
“I was told that the transcript had been mislaid,” he said. “I was also told that maybe a transcript was never made of the trial.”
The case file was accessed at the Shawano County Sheriff’s Office, and that’s where he collected most of the information for his story.
“The most surprising, along with the most frustrating part of my research, was the fact that there was no transcript of the trial,” Mutter said. “The transcript is evidence. People testifying under oath.
“Roger Lemberg was found not guilty of this crime, so the search for who was responsible for Sherry’s Sumnicht’s death might have been someone who testified at the trial, but we don’t have the transcript. Something someone said while under oath during the trial could lead to who was responsible for this crime.”
Mutter reached out to some of Sumnicht’s relatives for photos and information but received no response.
“I just want to be the messenger in this pursuit for who was responsible for Sherry Sumnicht’s death,” he said. “I’m trying to give the public as much information about this unsolved case as I can. I’m hoping with this information that someone who has some credible information will come forward and contact Sheriff (George) Lenzner.”
Sumnicht would have turned 37 the day after her body was found.
