Waukesha - David A. Wapp killed Samantha Peterson, stabbing and cutting her 37 times in the chest, neck and arms on Sept. 5.
It took a jury, which viewed pictures of Peterson, 21, and her wounds Wednesday morning, less than 30 minutes to find Wapp, 29, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.
The penalty is a mandatory life term in prison and Wapp will be sentenced on June 9 by Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge J. Mac Davis.
At that time, Davis will decide if Wapp will ever be eligible for parole.
The case went to the jury about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and by noon, jurors had informed Davis that they had reached a verdict.
Wapp, of the Town of Mukwonago, did not testify in the case and his attorney, Gerald Boyle, did not present a defense after the state had wrapped up presenting its evidence.
That evidence included a folding knife and blood-stained T-shirt that was recovered when Wapp was arrested by police on Sept. 6 as he tried to escape out a window of a Milwaukee hotel. The knife had Peterson's DNA on it and the T-shirt had Wapp's and Peterson's DNA on it.
Wapp stabbed Peterson, his ex-girlfriend, sometime after 10:30 p.m. Sept. 5 in Waukesha after she swore at him and told him to get out of her car, according to testimony and the criminal complaint filed in the case.
The two at some point had been engaged to be married, but she had returned the ring to him sometime on Sept. 4, according to Assistant District Attorney Kevin M. Osborne.
After stabbing the Waukesha woman in the chest repeatedly, Wapp left the car and returned to the vehicle a few minutes later. Peterson was making sounds, and worried that neighbors would hear her, Wapp then repeatedly stabbed her in the neck, according to testimony and statements made during the trial.
Wapp had been out of prison only a few days before Peterson's death. He had been released Sept. 1 and was going to live in transitional housing in Waukesha, where he would have been under electronic monitoring. There was no bed available, so he was approved for staying temporarily with an adult relative in Waukesha County without electronic monitoring, the Department of Corrections said last year after Wapp's arrest in the slaying.
Boyle, during his closing arguments, asked the jury to consider convicting Wapp of a lesser charge, first-degree reckless homicide. He argued that Wapp did not intend to kill Peterson and said testimony showed Wapp "snapped" after Peterson told him to get out of the car.
A charge of first-degree reckless homicide charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 40 years.
But Osborne told jurors that Wapp intended to kill Peterson from the moment he took out a folding knife and extended the blade.
"If that wasn't enough, he stabs her 37 times. . . . He stabs her in two separate attacks. . . . He cuts her neck because she's making noise. When you cut somebody's neck because you're afraid they're going to disturb the neighbors, and have them come looking . . . that's intentional. That's trying to cover up what you've done," Osborne said.
Peterson was found dead about 11 p.m. Sept. 5 in a car parked at West Ave. and Wood St. in Waukesha after his aunt called 911, police said. Wapp had been staying at his aunt's home on West Ave., and he and Peterson had been there the night of her slaying.
Key testimony in the case came from Travis Pavlekovich, who was at the aunt's home that night.
He testified Tuesday that he saw blood on Wapp's hands and shirt and saw the bloody knife. Wapp admitted he killed Peterson and said he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, Pavlekovich testified.
Wapp has an extensive juvenile and adult criminal record.
In 2003, Wapp was convicted of child abuse-intentionally causing harm and carrying a concealed weapon in connection with an incident in which he beat a teenager and used a knife to threaten a man who came to the boy's aid, according to court records. He was sentenced to four years in prison and four years of extended supervision in that case. After serving his prison term, Wapp was sent back to prison for violating the terms of his extended supervision.
Outside the courtroom, Boyle said the Wapp case was one of the toughest in his career, noting that the fact that Wapp returned to the car to "kill her off at the end" was fatal to any defense he could have mounted.
Early on in the case, Boyle had tried for a criminal insanity defense on behalf of Wapp. But a psychiatrist and psychologist who interviewed Wapp said they could not support a not guilty by reason of mental disease defense.
There was no there is no indication that Wapp had a major mental illness at the time Peterson was killed.
Boyle said that Wapp has had serious troubles since he was 5.
"It was almost inevitable that something bad would happen based on his history," Boyle said.