By Mary Spicuzza
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Four months after a Michigan man went on a violent crime spree in Wisconsin that left a state trooper and another man dead, the prosecutor handling the case is releasing a report about the incident.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney is expected to release his final report on the shooting of Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper, who was shot to death in an exchange of gunfire that also killed Steven Snyder of Michigan, a serial bank robber responsible for at least nine holdups in 3 states.
Casper, 21, was on his first solo patrol the day he was murdered.
The report comes days after another from a Michigan sheriff’s office.
The Newaygo County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday said Snyder has been linked to a string of crimes dating back to June 2011 through DNA, rental car records, hotel records, video surveillance and the way he carried out robberies.
The Journal Sentinel reported in May that Snyder’s wife had warned law enforcement officials her estranged husband was responsible for a series of unsolved bank robberies. His method mirrored that of the “Respectful Robber,” a man with a calm demeanor who would rob banks at gunpoint using stolen cars, then drive to a remote or wooded area where he had stashed another car so he could escape undetected.
Records obtained by the newspaper showed that at least a week before Snyder’s Wisconsin crime spree, the western Michigan sheriff’s office was investigating Snyder with the FBI.
On March 24, Snyder, 38, robbed a Wausaukee bank at gunpoint and shot and killed a man, Thomas Christ, before traveling to Fond du Lac and ambushing Casper in the shootout that left both men dead.
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