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Fillmore County Judge Robert Benson, appearing via closed circuit television, set Nissalke’s bail at $5 million after a heated back-and-forth exchange between Nissalke’s defense attorney and the county attorney
A lesser, conditional bail was not set, and Nissalke, 42, was scheduled to return to court June 23.
Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean painted a dark picture of Nissalke and argued for the $5 million bail. He said Nissalke is an extreme risk to flee from the first- and second-degree murder charges brought against him earlier this week. He has twice been arrested for escaping from custody and convicted of that charge once, MacLean said.
Nissalke began trying to sell his home in the 950 block of East King Street recently, MacLean said. He later told his wife to take down the signs before his attorney arrived and once told her to simply pack up and leave town, MacLean said.
MacLean briefly explained Nissalke’s criminal history, which included convictions for felony robbery and theft, and detailed Nissalke’s apparent wild, “non-transitory” temper, citing an incident at his home May 22. According to MacLean, five armed officers arrived with a search warrant to obtain hair and blood samples as part of the Senenfelder investigation. Nissalke tore the warrant up while yelling expletives at the officers before going inside and retrieving a metal bar, which he later attacked officers with, MacLean said.
Nissalke’s attorney, Chuck Ramsay, said the May 22 incident was “trumped up” to
try to create evidence in a
23-year-old case that frustrated police and prosecutors. He said the police arrived in an “offensive posture” to obtain DNA samples that Nissalke had already given.
He said MacLean had a “jaded view” of the facts in the case and presented them to the court unfairly. He said comments and statements made in the criminal complaint had been taken out of context and are being used unethically against his client.
Ramsay did not dispute Nissalke’s previous convictions but reminded the court that they happened in the 1980s, and he said Nissalke has since changed his character. Nissalke is a well-respected man in the community, with support from his family and employer, who were all present in court Wednesday, Ramsay said.
He said Nissalke has willingly cooperated with police by going to the station for questioning at 10 p.m. one night and driving to St. Paul for an interrogation at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Nissalke has repeatedly insisted he knows nothing about the murder and has volunteered for a lie-detector test.
Benson said his primary concern was with public safety, and cited the fact that Nissalke has “been charged with the most serious crime in Minnesota” when he set bail at $5 million. He set the amount consecutive to a $100,000 bond already posted by Nissalke for the May 22 incident. According to Ramsay, Nissalke was on his way out of the jail when he was “hastily” served an arrest warrant for murder and had to turn around. He said the bond was a waste of his client’s family’s money and asked that it be returned.
MacLean acknowledged he quickly produced a criminal complaint when he learned of Nissalke’s attempt to post bond. He said he served the complaint before Nissalke posted the bond but will work with the bonding company to try to get the money returned.
Senenfelder, a 40-year-old mother of five, was found stabbed to death about 10:45 a.m. June 6, 1985, in her home at 566 E. Fourth St. MacLean told the court Wednesday she was the victim of a plot to “silence a snitch forever.” He said Senenfelder told a probation agent that James Bolstad sexually molested her daughter. Bolstad was then placed in jail in La Crosse, Wis., for potential revocation of his probation. Some of his associates, including Nissalke, threatened Senenfelder to retract her statement so he could be released from jail, according to the criminal complaint.
Although Senenfelder later recanted, she also reaffirmed her statement to a probation officer in her home the day before she was killed, court documents show. The complaint states Nissalke was present at that meeting and decided at a party later that night with other associates that Senenfelder had to be killed.
According to the complaint, Nissalke left the party and was later seen with his hand wrapped in a bloody cloth. He bragged about the murder more than 30 times afterward, saying he stabbed Senenfelder in the heart and cut her throat three times — details only the police and coroner knew at the time, court documents allege.
The investigation grew cold over the years, despite police having several potential suspects. The case was re-opened in 2006 by the BCA’s Cold Case Unit, which offered a $50,000 reward for any useful information about the case. DNA evidence found at the scene of the murder was recently re-examined with more modern techniques, and authorities say Nissalke cannot be excluded from being a contributor of that DNA.
Nissalke’s family members, including his wife and sister, said he’s known about the vamped up re-examination of the evidence and has been cooperating with police ever since. If he was going to run away, he would have done so long ago, they said. Kristal Nissalke insisted her brother was innocent and is simply being “thrown under a bus” and is a scapegoat.
Nissalke was charged with murder Monday, and those charges were amended Wednesday, MacLean said. Nissalke is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree intentional murder during witness tampering, second-degree intentional murder and second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony. All four charges allege he either killed Senenfelder or helped someone else commit the murder. He faces a life sentence in prison if convicted.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
Average Joe wrote on Jun 22, 2008 7:03 PM:
Dont you think if they had this evidence on Jack they would of arrested him back then??
Here is a guy requesting a POLYGRAPH?????
Jack gave DNA two times before they came to the house for a third??? WHY DO YOU NEED ALL OF THOSE SAMPLES?? DNA is DNA!
WOW! "