Man arrested in Door County murder

DOOR COUNTY - Update as of 8:15 a.m. Monday:

The suspect will be in Door County court this afternoon.

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Authorities say a 35-year-old Will County, Ill. man is in jail pending formal charges in the death of his 21-year-old girlfriend, also from Will County.

Authorities confirmed the preliminary investigation indicates she died as a result of foul play.

"Door County does not have a lot of violent crime," said Door County Sheriff Terry Vogel speaking to the media Sunday night.

"On August 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm, the Door County Sheriff's Department received a telephone call from a 35-year-old male subject indicating he had killed his girlfriend,” said Vogel reading from a statement. “Officers went to the location of the telephone call which was in the village of Sister Bay and the subject was taken into custody without incident."

"Around the same time, officers arrived at the location of the resort where he said the body would be found and discovered the body of a 21-year-old female inside the motel room deceased,” continued Vogel. “This was approximately 35 miles from where he was arrested."

Vogel says the suspect was taken into custody at a business in Sister Bay.

He says the suspect and the deceased woman attended a wedding Saturday night at the Log Den in Egg Harbor.

Vogel would not name the resort the woman's body was found at, but did confirm the woman's body was discovered in the town of Nasewaupee, just west of Sturgeon Bay.

He says the State of Wisconsin Crime Lab is assisting in the processing of the scene.

Medical examiner, Al Klimek, told FOX 11 Sunday afternoon there was a deputy medical examiner on the scene for a deceased person.

Klimek said he was unsure of an exact location, but said it was near Sturgeon Bay.

A FOX 11 crew was at the Sand Bay Beach Resort & Suites in the town of Nasewaupee and law enforcement vehicles and a State Crime Lab vehicle could be seen outside of it.

When FOX 11 asked about the activity at Sand Bay Beach Resort, Vogel would not say it was where the woman's body was found nor would he confirm the activity was related to the homicide investigation.

Vogel says it's not yet sure if drugs or alcohol were involved, but says the suspect is cooperating with police.

"I can say he's been cooperative with our investigators,” said Vogel, “But the details at this point – until we get everybody else interviewed – we're not going to release at this point."

Vogel says the victim's name is not being released yet because family members are still being notified.

Vogel says he believes this to be the first intentional homicide the county has seen since 2001.