Mystery Location No. 105: June 17, 2018

This was a hard one, but I finally figured it out. This is 419 Main Street in Darlington, Wisconsin, where, on June 22, 1985, Judge Daniel P. "Danny" McDonald, 43, stabbed James C. Klein, a young attorney, to death. McDonald, who was a long-time judge, had just lost an election to Bill Johnston, a partner in the law firm where Klein worked. McDonald, a sore loser who was paranoid that other lawyers were out to get him, went to the office to kill Johnston, but when Klein came to the door and asked what he wanted, he killed him instead, so he "killed the wrong man."

McDonald was known as a hard-assed "law and order" judge, who didn't like releasing defendants ROR (released on their own recognizance), also known as a signature bond, but when he was arrested, he and his attorneys requested that he be released on a signature bond. He wasn't. 

McDonald was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, but he served only a few months. In March 1986, he was found dead in his cell. At first, it was thought that he had died of a heart attack, but the autopsy showed that he had died of a deliberate overdose of doxapin, a drug that he had been prescribed. His body was placed in a flag-draped coffin -- he was a veteran who had served in Vietnam. His grave marker in Holy Rosary Cemetery reads "SP4 US Army," "the grave of a hero."

Darlington calls itself "A Place to Remember," making it a "memorable" town. I Googled it and Darlington is a clean, pretty little town with very little crime (it's more than 89% white). 

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the murder of James C. Klein.

First, there seems to have been a lot of werewolf stories posted lately. Then Wednesday's "Thought" was a quote by the author of The Beast of Bray Road, which is about a Dogman in Wisconsin. I still wasn't sure, but when I started looking for murders on June 22, 1985, in Wisconsin, I found it. After that, all that was left was the address.