Tony Haase PC: Fox 11 Online
WAUPACA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A day after a judge ruled prosecutors couldn’t use DNA test results to eliminate an alternate suspect for the 1992 murders of Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue, the state filed a motion formally asking for a delay of Tony Haase’s July 14 trial so they can appeal the ruling.
Haase faces two counts of first-degree murder for the March 21, 1992, deaths at a farmhouse in Royalton. Haase was charged in 2022 after confessing to the murders. Haase’s father was killed in a snowmobile crash in 1977, with Togstad’s father one of the drivers involved.
Earlier this year, the defense obtained permission from the court through what’s called a Denny motion to argue an alternate suspect is the one responsible for the murders. The suspect, one of Haase’s relatives, is dead. Prosecutors then exhumed the body in June to perform DNA tests, seeking to show he is not the murderer.
But in court Wednesday, Judge Raymond Huber said the test results came back too late to allow the defense to adequately react before the trial began in less than two weeks. He noted the state had years to obtain such evidence.
Special Prosecutor Asst. Attorney General Amy Ohtani said in court Wednesday that the state was considering what’s known as an interlocutory appeal, where it would ask the appeals court to rule on the issue before it goes to trial.
Defense attorney John Birdsall said Wednesday the state could do so, but that, absent a ruling from the appeals court, the trial should go ahead as planned.
Judge Huber agreed Wednesday, and said the case was ready for trial on July 14.
Thursday morning, however, prosecutors filed a written motion, asking for the trial to be postponed to allow it time to go to the appeals court.
“The State will file an appeal as of right pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 974.05 of the Court’s decision regarding the Denny evidence and the exclusion of the State’s rebuttal evidence. A request has been submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Justice regarding the same and it is currently under review for assignment,” wrote District Attorney Kat Turner.
Haase’s attorneys have responded to the motion.
A motion hearing will be held Monday to discuss it.
Although the murders happened in 1992, Haase wasn’t charged until August 2022.
Police identified Haase as a suspect, and a DNA sample was taken from him during a traffic stop. Test results showed him to be a “major male contributor” to the fluids recovered from Togstad’s body, the complaint states.
Haase initially denied any involvement, but during questioning, he eventually admitted to the murders.
Eventually, Haase disclosed to investigators that his father had been killed in a snowmobile accident when he was 5 or 8 years old. Investigators had discovered Haase’s father died on Dec. 31, 1977, when Haase was 7 years old.
Haase continued and described that his father was operating a snowmobile in a group of three that was racing. The second snowmobile hit his father’s, and his father was killed. The third snowmobile then ran over the driver of the second. He described it as a horrible accident. One of those drivers was Togstad’s father.
Haase explained that on the evening of March 20, 1992, he became very drunk as he went from one bar to another by himself. For some reason, he started to think about the accident that killed his father. Those thoughts led to him going to the home of Tanna Togstad.
Haase could not articulate why he went there but insisted it was not to hurt anyone. He described himself as being in a drunken stupor that night. Haase describes getting into a “scuffle” with Mumbrue. He could not remember if he had brought a knife or if the knife was at the house. During the “scuffle,” he and Mumbrue were wrestling while standing up, and he moved his arm in a stabbing motion toward Mumbrue’s chest. He described Mumbrue falling to the floor near the foot of the bed.
Haase remembered Togstad yelling, “What the (expletive),” and that is when he punched her in the face. It is believed he would have knocked her out at this time.
At some point, Togstad started to stir, and that is when he stabbed her in the chest.
When asked why he didn’t tell investigators right away, Haase replied, “I didn’t want it to sound like I had it planned.” Haase told investigators he did not know why he did it. At this point, Haase told investigators when he saw the news report he thought, “Holy (expletive), what did I do?” the complaint states.
When they were killed, Togstad was 23 and Mumbrue was 35. Togstad died of one stab wound to the chest, while Mumbrue was stabbed multiple times, according to the autopsy report cited in the criminal complaint.
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