Waukesha — Samantha L. Peterson died after being stabbed and cut 36 times by David Wapp, who snapped when she told him to get out of her car during an argument outside his aunt's home on Sept. 5, according to court testimony Wednesday.
Waukesha County Medical Examiner Lynda Biedrzycki said Peterson's carotid artery on the left side of her neck and a mammary artery on the left side of her chest were cut and her lungs were punctured. Biedrzycki testified during Wapp's preliminary hearing that Peterson died as a result of blood loss and respiratory impairment caused by "multiple sharp force injuries."
Wapp, 29, of the Town of Mukwonago, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Peterson's death, and Waukesha County Court Commissioner Laura Florian Lau ordered him to stand trial after hearing testimony on Wednesday.
Peterson, 21, was visiting Wapp at the home of Wapp's aunt, according to the criminal complaint. They had left the home and gone to her car to talk.
Peterson, of Waukesha, was found dead about 11 p.m. Sept. 5 in a car parked at the intersection of West Ave. and Wood St. in Waukesha after someone called 911, police said.
Travis Pavlekovich, 19, who was at the aunt's home that night, testified that Wapp told him he killed Peterson. Pavlekovich said he saw blood on Wapp's hands and shirt and saw the bloody knife used to kill Peterson.
"He said, 'I stabbed her. I killed her.' He said, 'I'm going to prison for the rest of my life,' " Pavlekovich testified. "She told him to 'get the (expletive) out of my car.' He said, 'You sure you want to say that?' . . . He said he flipped out and started stabbing her."
According to Pavlekovich's testimony, Wapp left Peterson's Oldsmobile Alero after stabbing her but returned and found that she was still breathing. He then stabbed her and cut her neck until she was dead.
Wapp then said he wanted to bury Peterson's body in his aunt's backyard, but, Pavlekovich testified, he told Wapp not to do that.
Pavlekovich said that while Wapp was making plans to move the car and body elsewhere, he went to the Waukesha Police Department to report the killing.
Milwaukee police found Wapp and arrested him at a motel in the 10000 block of W. Appleton Ave. in Milwaukee about 6 a.m. Sept. 6 at gunpoint as he tried to escape through a window.