A 19-year-old actress was found strangled to death in her Hartford, Wisconsin home on July 15, and her friend and former lover is now being charged with her murder.
Jessie M. Blodgett finished a performance of “The Fiddler on the Roof” with her local theater and then attended a cast party Sunday night, before returning to her home at about 1 a.m. Her mother came into her room the next afternoon and found her daughter dead with a roll of duct tape under her bed.
According to Daily Mail, she was found gagged, strangled, and with her wrists and ankles bound together.
Police found fingerprints on the duct tape, leading them to suspect Daniel Bartelt, who was also active in the local theater scene with Blodgett. The two had dated in high school and had allegedly been spending a lot of time together, they even recorded a song together and posted it on YouTube weeks before her murder.
Bartelt was charged Wednesday with first-degree intentional homicide. ABC News reports that he still denies the charges and authorities are working to deem if he is mentally fit to stand trial.
If convicted, Bartelt will spend life in prison. The motive of the murder is not yet known.
Video from Youtube