Bembenek entered the Milwaukee police academyin March 1980 when she was 21 years old, and graduated sixth in her class. Shewas fired by the department later that August after she allegedly filed a falsereport about an incident in which a friend was arrested in connection with possessionof marijuana at a concert. She sued the department, claiming that it engaged insexual discrimination and other illegal activities. In January 1981, Bembenekmarried 33-year-old Milwaukeepolice detective Elfred Schultz Jr.
In the early hours ofMay 28, 1981, 30-year-old Christine Schultz was bound, gagged, and shot once inthe back by a single .38-caliber pistol at point-blank range in her home. StateCrime Laboratory ballistics testing revealed that the weapon used was SchultzJr.’s off-duty revolver. Because he was on duty at the time of her death,suspicion shifted to Bembenek, who had been alone in the apartment she sharedwith Schultz, and had access to both the gun and a key to Christine's home.Bembenek was arrested and the district attorney’s office charged her withfirst-degree murder.
Bembenek’s trialgenerated enormous publicity and the press began referring to her as “Bambi.”After nearly two weeks of testimony, and four days of deliberation, a juryfound her guilty of murder in March 1982, and she was sentenced to life inprison at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac. Bembenek later divorced herhusband, and filed three unsuccessful appeals of her conviction at all threelevels of the state courts, citing police errors in handling of key evidenceand alleging that the Milwaukeepolice may have singled her out because of her role as a key witness in afederal investigation into police corruption.
In July 1990, Bembenekbroke out of prison by crawling through a laundry room window, and fled to Canada. Threemonths after her escape, Bembenek was arrested in Ontario,but stayed in the country for another year and a half before she was extraditedto Wisconsinand returned to Taycheedah in the spring of 1992. In August, a John Doe investigationfound that while there were mistakes in the police investigation, there was noevidence of a conspiracy or wrongdoing. In December, after 10 years in prison,Bembenek won her freedom under a complex court deal in which her earlierfirst-degree murder jury verdict was set aside, and she pleaded no contest to areduced charge of second-degree murder. In exchange for the no-contest plea,prosecutors agreed to a new sentence equal to the time she had already served.
Bembenek wrote a bookabout her experience called Woman onTrial, which was later adapted into an NBC television movie starring TatumO’Neal called “Woman on the Run.” A year later, she legally changed her name toLaurie Bembenek. In 2002, she claimed handlers for the “Dr. Phil” televisionshow had confined her in an apartment, and when she attempted to escape from asecond-story window, she shattered her leg so badly it had to be amputatedbelow the knee.
In April 2008, Bembenekpetitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse her second murder conviction basedon new evidence not heard in the original trial: lab results proving not onlythat the 15 pieces of evidence tested did not include Bembenek’s DNA, but alsofound male DNA on the victim; evidence the victim was sexually assaulted; andthe eyewitness testimony of Schultz’s two young sons who said the killer was aheavyset, masked man. Bembenek's petition argued that the court did not make itclear whether defendants who plead guilty or no contest have an opportunity toreview evidence comparable to the rights of those who plead innocent.Bembenek’s appeal was denied in June 2008, but if her actions over the last 29years are any indication of her future, she won’t rest until she proves herinnocence.
