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Dateline Spotlight Revives Wisconsin Cold-Case Acquittal as Family Presses Civil Suit

National coverage returns focus to a not-guilty verdict that turned on doubts about decades-old evidence alongside a disputed interrogation statement.

Overview

  • Tony Haase was acquitted on August 11, 2025 of the 1992 stabbing deaths of Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue in Royalton, Wisconsin.
  • Investigators identified Haase in 2022 after a staged traffic stop yielded DNA that matched swabs from the crime, and they cited a handprint match and an interrogation in which he recalled only “snippets” of the night.
  • Defense lawyers argued the statement was the product of coercive tactics and challenged the integrity of decades-old biological evidence and a reported handprint match.
  • At trial, the defense pointed to alternate suspects, including Haase’s late uncle Jeff Thiel and convicted murderer Glendon Gouker, whose prior confession prosecutors characterized as unreliable.
  • Days after the acquittal, Togstad’s brother filed a $17 million wrongful-death lawsuit, which Haase has denied and moved to dismiss as renewed attention followed a November Dateline episode.