In recent years over two-dozen young men have turned up dead in Wisconsin, most of them college students pulled from lakes and rivers with high blood-alcohol levels. Rumors have circulated about a serial killer preying on male students, but Steven Spingola is having none of it.
The retired Milwaukee Police Department homicide detective has written up his investigation into the string of deaths in a succinct book, Staggered Paths: Strange Deaths in the Badger State. Spingola holds that most deaths aren’t strange at all, considering Wisconsin’s love of strong drink and the culture of binge drinking that has taken hold on campuses. “The elimination of a mass murderer as a suspect does not negate the possibility of foul play in at least three days,” Spingola concludes. Several other deaths strongly suggest suicide. But many resulted from the sheer negligence of drunken youths out for a tear.
Spingola will sign copies of Staggered Paths, 2-4 p.m., July 22 at Rosati’s Pizza, 690 Westfield Way, Pewaukee.
