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Kellie J. Schmidt, 55, was sentenced in Jackson County, Wisconsin, on September 26, 2023, to 20 years for first-degree reckless homicide in the stabbing death of her live-in boyfriend, Thomas J. Boetcher.

Schmidt, then 54, pleaded no contest in Jackson County Circuit Court on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, to first-degree reckless homicide as a crime of domestic violence, replacing an intentional homicide charge. Judge Daniel Diehn found her guilty on the plea. Trial had been set for May 8, 2023. The charge carried up to 60 years in prison. According to court records, her attorney said the State would cap its recommendation at 20 years of incarceration.

Schmidt was 52 and Boetcher was 53 when he died. They lived in the Town of Brockway, near Black River Falls in Jackson County, Wisconsin; some early reports described him as her roommate. At 10:23 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, 2021, Jackson County deputies were called to the home for a man needing emergency medical attention. They found Boetcher bleeding from an apparent stab wound to the arm. The Jackson County District Attorney's Office said he had crawled to a neighbor's residence after being stabbed in the upper body. A severed artery was later identified as the source of the bleeding. Reports identified the weapon as a fillet knife. He was airlifted to Marshfield Hospital and pronounced dead later that night. Deputies rescued Schmidt after finding her attempting suicide in a nearby garage. She was taken to Black River Memorial Hospital, then to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.

Before her arrest, two Jackson County Sheriff's Office detectives interviewed Schmidt in a hospital bed. They read her the Miranda warnings and told her she was not under arrest but could not leave while connected to medical equipment. She said her last memory was painting a dresser on the porch with Boetcher before waking up in the hospital. She later told investigators she did not remember what happened. In a recorded jail phone call, she was heard saying, "he was going to set me on fire and I didn't know what else to do." The district attorney's office said she later claimed self-defense, which the evidence did not support.

Schmidt was taken into custody after her hospital release. The Sheriff's Office announced her arrest on Monday, September 13, 2021, citing the autopsy. By September 20, 2021, she had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide as an act of domestic abuse while using a dangerous weapon, with a repeater modifier for her 2018 conviction for substantial battery with the use of a dangerous weapon.

Schmidt's nephew told detectives the couple drank alcohol daily and fought often. He also said she had previously stabbed an ex-boyfriend and had once admitted poking Boetcher in the chest with a butcher knife while he slept. These were the nephew's statements, not court findings.

At sentencing in September 2023, Boetcher's daughter and several of his siblings read impact statements; one requested the maximum penalty. The hearing paused when one of Schmidt's attorneys had an apparent medical episode and resumed on Tuesday, September 26, 2023. Prosecutors requested 30 years, including 20 years of initial confinement. The defense sought 4 years of confinement, arguing she stabbed Boetcher because of his past abuse. A psychologist testified that trauma left her unable to recognize other options during the argument. Diehn said that while the relationship may have been turbulent, only one person introduced a knife that night. He noted Schmidt's history of assaultive or harmful offenses against family and partners, including an earlier stabbing of a different man in Racine County. Her sentence consisted of 10 years of initial confinement followed by 10 years of extended supervision.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.