On the morning of 12 December 1985, Yvonne Menke, 45, a mother of four, walked down the back staircase of her apartment on Main Street in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, to warm up her car. She was shot three times. Her daughter Julie, 20, heard the shots and saw someone jog away up the alley. Beside the body, in the snow, was a boot print with the word "Arctic" pressed into the heel. The next day, police took a pair of size-five Arctic Cat snowmobile boots from the home of Mary Jo Lunsmann, a horse trainer who had been seeing the same man as Yvonne. The boots matched the casts. Nobody was charged. Thirty-eight years later, in January 2023, two Polk County investigators sat down at Mary Jo Bailey's kitchen table in Apache Junction, Arizona, and asked her about the boots. This is that recording, in order, followed by her arrest at the same house in November 2023. She was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide on 30 May 2024 and sentenced to life on 2 July 2024. Every recording in this film is from the public release. The "size five" line at 34:39 is spoken by a member of the prosecution team in a KARE 11 interview. Narration facts are drawn from the criminal complaint (Polk County, 9 November 2023), trial and sentencing coverage by KARE 11, FOX 10 Phoenix and WKOW, and reporting by the Post Bulletin, WEAU and the Star Tribune. CHAPTERS 0:00 The boots 2:27 The stairwell, 12 December 1985 4:02 The day after 5:40 The granddaughter 6:22 The kitchen table, 26 January 2023 30:31 The carport, 13 November 2023 34:39 The stairs, May 2024 Sources - Criminal complaint, State of Wisconsin v. Mary Josephine Bailey, Polk County, 9 November 2023 - KARE 11: arrest report (Nov 2023), trial opening (21 May 2024), sentencing (2 Jul 2024) - FOX 10 Phoenix: arrest report (14 Nov 2023) · WKOW: sentencing (2 Jul 2024) - Post Bulletin (30 May 2024) · WEAU (30 May 2024) · Star Tribune · KSTP · Inside Edition

mary jo bailey yvonne menke st croix falls polk county cold case 1985 murder interrogation police interview bodycam arrest footage true crime denial snow boots arctic cat wisconsin cold case apache junction the denial tapes interrogation footage cold case solved love triangle real police interrogation 38 years later boot print criminal complaint life sentence courtroom victim impact statement has no idea jack owen julie connors