Cashton shooting has echoes of 1983 tragedy

Cody Kraabel

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor

When 23-year-old Cody Kraabel shot his mother Terri Keepers on Wednesday in Cashton and then fled to Ontario, longtime area residents were abruptly reminded of another tragic incident.

In April 1983, Kraabel’s grandfather, Wayne Tretsven, went on a shooting spree that resulted in the death of two people.

In the Wednesday incident, Kraabel told authorities that he was angry with his mother because he had to ask permission to use farm equipment and take hay for his horses.

Coincidentally, it was a dispute over a horse trailer that led Tretsven to murder his former girlfriend, Rebecca Glunz, 44, of rural Westby. He then went to Stanley Flaig’s farm on Hoff Valley Road near Ontario and shot and killed Flaig, 50.

After unsuccessfully searching for his third victim, Otis DeWitt of Ontario, Tretsven hid in the Ontario restaurant that is now the Milk Jug Cafe. He held two people hostage. Tretsven eventually walked out of the building and was shot in the leg by then Vernon County deputy Gene Cary. Tretsven died in prison in 2011.

In a turn of circumstances, Kraabel also retreated to Ontario after wounding his mother with a .22 rifle, which he left at his father’s home in Cashton after the shooting.

Kraabel had lured 50-year-old Keepers to a Cashton barn near her house, texting her for help with corralling a horse, according to the criminal complaint.

He told investigators he shot his mother from a loft just before she left the barn, according to the complaint.

His mother said she heard a shot at about 5 p.m., felt a burning sensation and discovered blood on her side, the complaint stated. She drove away from the barn and was treated at a hospital.

Police arrested Kraabel at about 6:40 p.m. at Candie Dunwald’s home on Park Street, where he lives with his girlfriend and infant child.

On Friday, prosecutors in Monroe County Circuit Court charged Kraabel with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety and endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm. He is jailed on a $100,000 cash bond. His next court appearance is Oct. 5.

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