Obit: Kutsche, Michael R. (? - 1978)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Kutsche, Lulloff

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 11/23/1978

Kutsche, Michael R. (? - 19 November 1978)

So far, the 1978 deer gun season in Clark County has proved safe but was marred last Sunday morning by an apparent suicide of a Sturgeon Bay man. Dead was Michael R. Kutsche, 25, who died of a self-inflicted rifle wound to the chest just off of Ziegler Road, four miles north of U.S. 10, Town of Seif. The death was ruled a non-hunting related death.

According to Robert Lulloff, Clark County coroner, Kutsche, Sheboygan Bay, left a two-paragraph rambling suicide note in his auto. Death was almost instantaneous, Lulloff reported, with the bullet entering the sternum, passing through the chest and departing through a side of the back. Kutsche was pronounced dead on arrival at Neillsville Memorial Hospital at 11:40 a.m., Sunday. A Neillsville ambulance transported him from the scene of the shooting to the hospital.

Kutsche arrived in the Town of Seif with four other hunting companions on the Friday prior to the start of the season. The group’s vehicles included a mini-motor home and Kutsche’s auto. On Sunday, Kutsche worked on his auto, apparently tinkering with the carburetor, then took his gun, walked across a roadside ditch to the edge of the woods and fired his rifle.

No one reported seeing the shooting, itself, although members of his hunting group saw Kutsche walk away to an area behind the trailer. Another non-party hunter saw the deceased eject a shell from his rifle and walk behind the trailer; several heard the muffled sound of the gun going off.

Time of the shooting was placed at 10:45 a.m. Party members reported to Lulloff that Kutsche had been despondent for some time.

The body was taken to Georgas-Gesche Funeral Home for transportation later to Menomonee Falls.

Kutsche was employed as a shipyard worker in Sheboygan Bay. He was single.