Background: Authorities look for evidence at an auto shop in Grafton, Wisconsin, after a body was found inside of a vehicle in Ozaukee County (WITI/YouTube). Inset: Miguel Aponte (Ozaukee County Sheriff”s Office).
A defendant in Wisconsin has been found guilty of killing a man whose body was found in the back seat of a rental car with tape over his mouth and a bullet in his head.
A jury found Miguel Aponte, 34, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and felony bail jumping in the death of 49-year-old Laeng Sanavongsay, Ozaukee County court records state. Aponte was found not guilty of attempting to mutilate a corpse.
On March 4, authorities approached a car that appeared to be abandoned along the side of the road in Grafton, a village just north of Milwaukee. When they looked inside of the Chevy Malibu, they saw a body in the back seat, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Ozaukee County News Graphic.
The body — confirmed to be dead and identified as Sanavongsay — had tape around the mouth, binding marks on the wrists, and a bullet in the head, authorities said. Burn damage also apparently marred the vehicle, with smoke residue on the windows and damage to the passenger compartment.
Investigators learned that the victim had rented the vehicle at Chicago O’Hare International Airport the day before, and the last call his phone made was to a number tied to the owner of a Milwaukee auto repair shop. Authorities searched the shop and continued to investigate cell tower data, allegedly tracing evidence to a woman whom Aponte was dating.
In September, the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office is said to have identified DNA in the Chevy Malibu as having belonged to Aponte, using the FBI’s national database system CODIS. According to authorities, Aponte’s DNA was also found on Sanavongsay’s right hand as well as on a mattress located at the Milwaukee auto shop.
Aponte reportedly initially denied knowing Sanavongsay, before saying he had met him once and then admitting he was with the victim and other people on the night of his death, though he denied having played a part in the killing.
Ozaukee County Sheriff Christy Knowles suggested the location had little to do with the crime.
“They drove up, found a place to kill somebody, and it just happened to be in Ozaukee County,” she said, per local Fox affiliate WITI.
Ozaukee County District Attorney Ben Lindsay made clear during the trial his belief that Aponte did not act alone, the local newspaper reported, but no one else has been apprehended in the case.
Aponte is set to be sentenced on March 9. He faces life in prison.
