Shot dead in the forest

[TheeBadOne]

Teen catches own death on camera

LA CROSSE, Wis. - Seth Hammes wasn't into sports, going steady or fast cars. Relatives say the high school senior would rather be rebuilding a computer or out in the woods, snapping pictures of deer.

He was using his camcorder as he explored the woods near Little Falls, about 35 miles northeast of La Crosse, last Saturday when the device caught the crack of gunshots, the 17-year-old's screams and the voice of the shooter, promising help that never came.

Hammes didn't come out of the woods alive, and police say the camcorder was the key to catching the man they think killed him.

After viewing and listening to the tape, police tracked down 24-year-old Russell Schroeder, who faces charges of reckless homicide and reckless injury carrying up to 85 years in prison.

Without the tape, there's no telling how long it may have taken investigators to realize Hammes had been murdered, Monroe County Sheriff Pete Quirin said Thursday -- the same day of Hammes' funeral.

"But right next to him was the videotape. That's when we knew we had a homicide on our hands," the sheriff said.

Hammes' family said the boy and two of his friends went out bow-hunting Saturday morning. But his uncle, Ed Hammes, said his nephew would rather hunt with a camera than a gun.

True to form, Hammes put down his bow and picked up his camcorder that afternoon.

Sometime around 4 p.m., he was shot in the pelvis and then the heart, according to the criminal complaint. His camcorder fell to the ground but caught the sound of the shots and the boy's screams.

The tape shows a person Quirin said is Schroeder in a nearby field. Schroeder's voice can be heard, telling Hammes he'll call for help on his cell phone, the complaint said.

Then Schroeder says he can't find a signal and promises to get help. But according to the complaint, he instead went to a birthday party, home to play video games and then his job as a custodian at the Army's Fort McCoy near Sparta.

After family and friends reported Hammes missing, police used bloodhounds to find his body in the woods that night.

Quirin said investigators initially believed Hammes had just died in the woods; there was no blood to indicate foul play, and Hammes had been shot with a .22 caliber rifle, which left only small wounds, Quirin said. Then they viewed the tape.

Schroeder is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond pending further proceedings in Monroe County Circuit Court in Sparta.

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