Waukesha — A 49-year-old Waukesha man was charged Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his girlfriend, Carol Fisher, by repeatedly stabbing her with a 10-inch butcher knife in his apartment.
Court Commissioner Thomas Pieper ordered Daniel K. Christesen to undergo an evaluation for mental competency. Pieper set bail at $500,000. A court review of the evaluation findings is set for July 6.
The charge carries a term of life imprisonment.
Fisher, 55, and Christesen lived in separate flats in a duplex in the 900 block of Arcadian Ave. - he in the upper and she in the lower. Police say Christesen contacted them Tuesday evening, saying he fatally stabbed Fisher in his flat.
Christesen peacefully surrendered to police, a Bible in one hand, a phone in the other, the complaint says. He asked emergency medical personnel: "Do you think I will go to Hell for this?"
Christesen said he stabbed Fisher because he had grown tired of her constant arguing. She had written him a note days earlier, saying she was leaving him, the document says. He admitted he had not taken all of his psychiatric medications that day, the complaint says.
The couple had lived in the east-side duplex for four or five years, and their contentious relationship often caused police to intervene, Capt. Mark Stigler said.
A state appointed lawyer said Christesen, who was twitching Friday afternoon during the hearing, needed to get back on his medications.