Background: The Marathon County Courthouse and Jail in Wausau, Wisconsin (Google Maps). Inset left: Dustin Stinson (Marathon County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Jacob Socha (Mid-Wisconsin Cremation Society – Schofield).
A Wisconsin man is accused of gunning down his housemate after a discussion about a woman and then planting the gun on the victim to make it look like he shot himself.
Dustin Stinson, 35, faces a slew of charges stemming from the death of 31-year-old Jacob Socha, including first-degree intentional homicide, possessing a firearm after an out-of-state felony, and tampering with a GPS tracking device, court records show. During an arraignment on Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty.
The underlying incident occurred on Sept. 14 at a residence on the 400 block of Lazy Creek Way in Wausau, a city some 150 miles north of Madison. This was Stinson’s home, authorities said — as well as Socha’s — and Stinson said the two housemates were there together, having a sandwich.
They proceeded to talk about a woman, and Stinson said that if she was not OK, he was going to “hurt some people,” per a criminal complaint obtained by local outlets such as the Wausau Daily Herald. The defendant proceeded to retrieve a gun of Socha’s in the home and return to speaking with him. During the apparently emotional conversation, their foreheads touched, and Socha told Stinson that he loved him and that the woman was all right.
Stinson reportedly said he remembered Socha’s body falling to the floor and that he then put the gun to Socha’s head. As Socha grabbed the barrel and tried to move it, it went off.
The defendant allegedly said he then placed the gun in Socha’s hand before leaving the house, area CBS affiliate WSAW reported. He is believed to have ripped off an ankle monitor and called a woman to tell her he had killed Socha. She alerted police, and they responded to the home at about 5:35 p.m. that day, finding Socha on the floor in the home with a gun in his hand and a small hole in his temple.
Socha was pronounced dead days later, on Sept. 19. It is unclear whether the woman Stinson reportedly called is the same one about whom he and Socha were talking.
Soon after police found Socha’s body, an officer walking about a mile away saw someone matching Stinson’s description. The man reportedly said his name was “James,” though Stinson later admitted to giving a fake name because he was scared, the complaint stated.
Stinson was arrested and booked into the local jail. According to authorities, at some point, he called the same woman to whom he had divulged his crime, a woman to whom he had reportedly been ordered not to speak. When a corrections officer asked him about this, he reportedly uttered, “I shot my best friend in the head last night!”
When the officer sought clarification, Stinson allegedly repeated himself and held his hand — in the shape of a gun — at his own temple.
The defendant also stated at one point, “I was high,” when law enforcement spoke with him, per WSAW.
An obituary for Socha remembered him as “a vibrant individual who cherished life and the people around him,” adding that he had a fiancee and was “known for his caring, compassionate nature and unique sense of humor.”
Stinson, who is jailed under a $1 million bond, is set to reappear in court for a scheduling conference on Wednesday. He faces life in prison if convicted of his crimes.
