Ruth J. Bresnahan, an 83-year-old Milwaukee resident born April 2, 1904, was killed in her home on January 4, 1988, as part of a violent winter-long series of burglaries and attacks on elderly people in Milwaukee County. She died from asphyxia caused by crushing injuries to her neck. Her bedroom had been ransacked and money was missing from a small purse she kept pinned to her undergarments. Investigators found a blood-stained stuffed toy donkey on the living room sofa; testing later showed the blood on the toy was not Bresnahan’s.

There was no reported forced entry, and testimony described Bresnahan as security conscious who checked through the window and locked both inner and outer doors after visitors. That detail was highlighted because Robert J. Wirth had painted her home about five months earlier and later became the central suspect in a string of similar crimes. Wirth was tied to the blood on the stuffed toy by DNA comparison and was convicted in connection with Bresnahan’s death and three other elderly victims; his appeal challenging the seizure of his blood was rejected by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

Does anyone in Milwaukee remember Bresnahan or have information about her routine or anyone seen near her home in late 1987 and early 1988?