Ex-cop gets 35 years for killing woman, leaving body in suitcase on highway

[IronMaiden]

Ex-cop gets 35 years for killing woman, leaving body in suitcase on highway

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, March 31, 2016 11:06 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, March 31, 2016 11:57 AM EDT

Steven Zelich was sentenced Wednesday, March 30, for the death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez (inset), of Cottage Grove, Ore., whose body was found in a suitcase along a Wisconsin highway in August 2012. (Kevin Poirier/Kenosha News File Photo via AP/Lorraine Eriksen/Supplied)

KENOSHA, Wis. -- A former suburban Milwaukee police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing an Oregon woman and ditching her body in a suitcase along a highway.

Steven Zelich was sentenced Wednesday in the 2012 death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, whose body was found along a Wisconsin highway in 2014. He pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon and hiding a corpse.

Authorities said Gamez died during a sexual encounter and Zelich hid her body before dumping it in 2014.

The 54-year-old Zelich is also accused of killing a Minnesota woman whose body was found in a suitcase along the same highway.

Zelich worked for the West Allis police department from February 1989 until his resignation in August 2001.