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Catching the Killer of Neil LaFave

Blood Trails Case Files
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On his birthday in 1971, Wisconsin game warden Neil LaFave went out to post “No Hunting” signs.

He never came home.

The next morning, searchers found his body buried in a shallow grave. The brutality stunned investigators: multiple gunshots, and a horrifying attempt to conceal the crime.

Suspicion quickly centered on a young poacher with a history of conflict with LaFave. But proving it would take something new: one of the first wiretaps ever used in a Wisconsin murder case.

What followed was a breakthrough that changed the investigation, and revealed just how far someone was willing to go to avoid getting caught.

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Photo of Brian Hussong courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Photo Evidence

Man wearing military helmet and uniform ties rope in sepia-toned forest
Smiling man with dark horn-rimmed glasses in black-and-white headshot
Family portrait: seated man in glasses, woman holding infant, young child on floor by fireplace.
Smiling man wearing round glasses and patterned shirt, sepia-toned portrait on blue background
Black-and-white group portrait of U.S. Marines; sign reads "PLATOON 3-53 U.S. MARINE CORPS SAN DIEGO 1958"
Young man in suit, tie and glasses in vintage studio portrait
Person in hooded sweatshirt, side profile in grainy black-and-white, patterned hood lining visible
Bald man facing camera in black-and-white headshot with neutral expression

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