A 27-year-old former valet from Milwaukee faces charges after, he reportedly said, he “deliberately and purely murdered" a nurse practitioner from Froedtert Hospital.
Kenneth Freeman has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Carlie Beaudin, a nurse practitioner in the Department of Medicine's Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital.
Freeman was waiting behind a concrete pillar in parking structure 5 at Froedtert when Carlie Beaudin stepped out of the elevator about 1 a.m. on Friday, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office Tuesday.
The 27-year-old, who had been fired as a valet in October, stepped out, and according to video surveillance, said something to Beaudin. She was then seen walking toward her car when he ran up behind her and knocked her to the ground, the complaint says.
Beaudin was found under her vehicle in Parking Structure #1, with injuries to the head and face. She was taken to the emergency room, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed she suffered blunt force trauma to the head and neck, "with indicia of manual strangulation."
Detective Joann Donner said she observed on video the defendant kick and/or stomp Beaudin almost 40 times in the head and neck. He then dragged her from camera's view toward her car, which was later seen leaving parking structure No. 5. Detective Dickson Woo said the camera from parking structure No. 1 showed Beaudin's vehicle, driven by a man, entering parking structure No. 1 and go to the top level. The vehicle was seen going backward once and then traveling forward out of camera view, to the location where Beaudin was eventually found, the criminal complaint says.
Milwaukee County sheriff's officials arrested Freeman near North 37th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue after receiving a tip Friday.
Hospital officials said that Freeman passed a background check before he was hired in January last year but was later fired for a "non-violent infraction" in October.
"We remain vigilant about the emotional and physical safety of every person who works or studies at, is cared for by, or visits our campuses, clinics, and hospitals," hospital officials said. "Safety is our top priority. We have made security enhancements, and we will continue to make improvements."
