Felony charges include mutilating corpse, armed burglary
By Robert Cloud
The April 27 house fire where investigators found a body in the debris was a crime scene.
Steven D. Eggert, 24, Menasha, is charged with arson, mutilating a corpse, straw purchasing a firearm, two counts of armed burglary, 10 counts of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of first-degree reckless endangerment.
At 2:18 a.m. Wednesday, April 27, a 911 caller reported a fire at N11557 County Trunk P in the town of Harrison.
Iola firefighters, first responders and Waupaca county deputies were dispatched to the scene.
When they arrived, they found the house fully engulfed in flames, The roof and one wall had collapsed.
Within 20 minutes of the firefighters arrival, the entire structure had collapsed into the basement.
Firefighters observed two vehicles parked on the property. These belonged to the property’s owner, 62-year-old K. Roeglin.
Investigators contacted the neighbors, who said Roeglin lived alone. When both vehicles were there, Roeglin was usually at home.
At 3:32 a.m. on April 27, the Iola Rural Fire Department contacted the state Division of Criminal Investigation.
When DCI Special Agent Eric Beine came to the scene with other state fire marshals, the debris in the basement was still smoldering.
They later found a body under the debris, next to a water heater.
Evidence indicated that the body had been in the kitchen when it fell with debris into the basement.
Witnesses
On April 28, two people, identified in the criminal complaint as Witness 1 and his girlfriend, Witness 2, came to the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office with information related to the fire.
According to the criminal complaint, they indicated they had a friend they knew as “Steve.” They later identified him as Steven Eggert from his Department of Transportation photo.
Witness 1 said he drove a dump truck for work.
He said Eggert rode along with him as a passenger on April 26.
Shortly before 7 p.m. on April 26, Eggert allegedly went to the Wood County Rifle Range with the witnesses where he and Witness 1 fired an AR-15 and an M44 bolt-action rifle.
Eggert had purchased both guns from Witness 1, the complaint says.
Shortly after 10:30 p.m., Eggert left the witnesses’ apartment. He allegedly told them he was going to hunting land he used near Rosholt to check on his trail cameras.
Shortly after 11:50 p.m. that night, Eggert called the apartment. Witness 1 said Eggert seemed “panicked.”
Eggert allegedly asked Witness 1 to talk alone, away from Witness 2.
Instead, Witness 1 turned up the phone’s volume, so Witness 2 could hear what Eggert said.
The complaint says Eggert told the witnesses that when he went to the property he found the property owner dead. He said it looked as if the man had been dead for about two days.
The witnesses told Eggert to report finding the dead body to the police.
He said he was concerned that if he reported finding the body, law enforcement would discover that he had a warrant and think that he killed the man.
Around 8:45 a.m. Thursday, April 28, Witness 1 spoke with Eggert again. He told investigators that Eggert said he did not want anyone to know that he had been to the house and allegedly talked about hiding his tracks.
Witness 1 asked Eggert, “What did you do, burn down the house?”
Eggert allegedly responded, “Well actually, yeah.”
He also showed Witness 1 a photo on his phone of a man lying on the kitchen floor, the complaint says. Eggert also indicated taking firearms from the house.
On April 29, DCI agents questioned Eggert.
He reportedly said the fire started after he placed a burning joint on a pile of papers on a table. The fire then spread to a mattress.
On April 30, investigators executing a search warrant found 10 guns, eight of which had been at Roeglin’s house prior to the fire.
Eggert is currently in custody at the Waupaca County jail on a $250,000 cash bond.