Tony Haase appears in Waupaca County court for his trial. July 17, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
WAUPACA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The jury now has the case for Tony Haase’s murder trial.
Haase faces two charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue in 1992.
Haase waived his right to testify before closing arguments on Wednesday.
The prosecution made claims that Haase killed the pair at their Royalton home and left DNA evidence behind. That evidence was preserved until Haase was tied to the scene and allegedly confessed to the murder in 2022.
The defense rebutted these claims, and said that the chain of custody for the DNA evidence was unclear, making it untrustworthy. Haase’s attorneys also claimed that Haase’s uncle Jeff Tiel, who died in 1995, may have been responsible for the murders. His DNA evidence was disallowed for use in the trial before it began.
Although the murders were in 1992, Haase wasn’t charged until 2022, when DNA evidence and a confession tied him to the scene.
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.
The jury has ended its deliberations for the day. It plans to resume at 8 a.m. Thursday.
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