Philip G. Schmidt-Way (Larimer County Sheriff’s Office) and the farm his grandmother was going to sell (WKOW screenshot)
A 29-year-old man in Wisconsin may spend the remainder of his days behind bars for killing his grandmother, teaming up with his father to poison the elderly woman to prevent her from selling a farm he stood to inherit.
Grant County Circuit Court Judge Craig R. Day on Tuesday ordered Philip G. Schmidt-Way to serve a sentence of life in a state correctional facility with the possibility for parole after being convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in the 2021 slaying of Diana Way, authorities announced. Schmidt-Way will be eligible for parole after 20 years.
Schmidt-Way’s father, Aric Way, was similarly convicted of first-degree murder in his mother’s death. He was sentenced last month to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to a news release from the Office of the Wisconsin Attorney General.
Aric Way (Larimer County Sheriff’s Office)
Police and emergency medical personnel on July 19, 2021, responded to a call regarding an unresponsive woman — later identified as Diana Way — who was found in the bedroom of her home in the 3400 block of Hunter Hollow Road in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, which is about 50 miles west of Madison. The caller was a man who had arranged to purchase a book collection from the victim, police wrote in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
Carbon monoxide levels inside the home, particularly in the victim’s bedroom, were unusually high, though investigators could not find an apparent source for the elevated readings. An autopsy determined that Diana Way’s cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. She had also suffered a recent contusion to her left eye and cheek.
A trail camera trained on the victim’s driveway showed a truck with distinctive features — including the words “PANTY DROPPER” written across the top of the front windshield — drive up to the victim’s home at about 3 a.m. that morning and leave about 2.5 hours later. The day after Diana Way was found dead, Aric Way was dropped off at the police station for an interview in what appeared to be the same truck with the same “PANTY DROPPER” decal on the windshield.
During the interview, Aric Way “discussed being upset about the sale of Victim’s house and farmstead to Victim’s friend,” police wrote. “Aric Way said he was upset because he felt Victim was being swindled, not because it was his inheritance. Aric Way pointed out that the farm was not his inheritance, as it was intended to be his son’s inheritance.”
Messages between the father and son also showed that Aric Way had tried to get legal guardianship of his mother by having her declared legally incompetent before she could “sell the family farm for a handful of beans.”
Aric Way also claimed that he had not seen his son in some time, as the other man lived in Colorado. However, text messages showed the two communicated throughout Aric Way’s police interview. Immediately after the interview, Aric Way texted his son to “Stay away,” authorities wrote.
Police then traced the truck that dropped Aric Way at the station and found it was registered to Schmidt-Way. Officers located the vehicle and inside found that Schmidt-Way on July 12 had purchased a carbon monoxide detector.
Records from Aric Way’s Google account showed that he made numerous suspicious searches in the days before his mother’s death.
Noting that carbon monoxide can be made by combining sulfuric acid, which is commonly found in drain cleaning supplies, with formic acid, which is commonly found in beekeeping chemicals, police said Aric Way performed multiple searches for beekeeping supplies and drain cleaners with “the most sulfuric acid,” as well as whether carbon monoxide can “make you hallucinate.”
It was then confirmed that Aric Way had purchased the drain cleaner and beekeeping chemicals just before his mother’s death and that he and Schmidt-Way were at the victim’s home from about 3 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. on the day she was found dead.
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