Oconomowoc Focus Article - June 8, 2006

Local woman still working hard for info on lost daughter

June 08, 2006
Jonna Clark, staff writer

City of Oconomowoc - The Oconomowoc mother of a missing young woman is calling local women to come together to help her create awareness.

Karren Kraemer said she is looking for help from her community to put together an event to highlight the dangers of domestic violence, and to raise funds to add to reward money being offered for information about her daughter Becky Marzo's disappearance in December 2003.

"Domestic violence is what killed my daughter," Kraemer said.

Kraemer and her family have offered a $30,000 reward for any information about Marzo's disappearance and suspected murder, but have learned that more may be needed to bring forth informants.

Marzo, 23, was living in the 3100 block of North 5th Street in Milwaukee, where she was last seen in the late evening hours at the residence she shared with her boyfriend.

Kraemer said she believes her daughter was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her then 37-year-old boyfriend, who is considered a person of interest in the case.

The Milwaukee Police Department has said the unsolved case is open and under investigation, and Kraemer said she hopes arrests come soon.

The Oconomowoc mother's pain and persistence over finding out what happened to her daughter led her to organize a vigil in December 2005 at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and to countless hours of her own legwork and investigation of what may have befallen Becky.

Kraemer said she hopes interested community members will step forward to assist her in keeping Becky's case and the issue of domestic violence alive.

"I have been so busy trying to catch the bad guy that I don't have the community connections I normally would," she added, and said that is why she is issuing the call for volunteers.

Kraemer said she and her family became aware of Marzo's violent relationship when her daughter came to them after having been beaten in March 2003, allegedly by her boyfriend.

Marzo suffered a broken nose, had hunks of her hair pulled out and had been choked.

Marzo, at her family's insistence, made a complaint to police and battery charges were filed against the man, who had a prior record for domestic disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.

Despite her family's grave concern, Kraemer said Marzo resumed her relationship with the man and discontinued communication with her family.

Kraemer said she believed her daughter was afraid for her life and that of her family.

Marzo's co-workers later told Kraemer that she continued to suffer beatings from the boyfriend and often came to work bruised and depressed.

In January 2004, Kraemer said she began leaving messages on her daughter's cell phone, all of which went unanswered.

By June, Kraemer said she began to become alarmed. The death of Marzo's grandfather and a brother's accident had occurred with no word from her.

Kraemer said by the time she went to the Milwaukee Police Department to file a missing persons report, she believed in her heart her daughter was dead.

Becky Marzo was one of five children Kraemer and her husband David have been raising, two of them Oconomowoc High School grads.

Kraemer has been fighting an uphill battle to find out Becky's fate, and though she cannot say anything about the newest developments in the case, she is finally hopeful arrests may be coming soon.

Kraemer said she has had the help of high-profile prosecuting attorney Ellen Corcella and the services of a local private investigator, both of whom are working on the case pro bono.

"Becky was a wonderful person and she didn't deserve to die like this." Kraemer said.

Kraemer said anyone in the community interested in helping the family organize a fundraising event to boost the reward fund should call her at (262) 434-0219.