Woman Accused of Arranging Assault on Husband

Woman Accused of Arranging Assault on Husband

Tomah, Wis.

Kathleen “Kitty” Steckel, 51, of Stevens Point, Wis. is accused of hiring a man to take a baseball bat to her estranged husband, who she lured out of his workplace for the attack. Steckel offered a man she met at an after-bar party Sunday night $500 to “send a message to her husband.” After the party Eteckel and Eric C. Carlson stopped at a Wal-Mart in Tomah, where Carlson said, “Kitty picked out the baseball bat.”
The husband said he received a surprise call from his wife Monday morning at Americold’s Essex Avenue warehouse, where he works. He came outside and was walking toward Steckel’s car when he heard a noise behind him, and turned to see Carlson swinging a bat at his head. He defended himself with his left arm, which was seriously injured and broken.
Carlson told police he and Steckel first met Sunday night, and she told him her husband had physically and verbally abused her. She didn’t want him dead but “in pain.” After leaving Tomah, the pair threw the bat out the window and left town. Carlson said Steckle only gave him $5.