31-year-old Milwaukee man arrested in connection to South Milwaukee Pizza Hut homicide

Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·1 min read
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A memorial of flowers is seen mounted to the garbage enclosure at the South Milwaukee Pizza Hut, 124 N. Chicago Ave., on Feb. 12. Police are conducting a homicide investigation into the death of 55-year-old Alex Stengel of Cudahy, whose body was found there Feb. 7.
A memorial of flowers is seen mounted to the garbage enclosure at the South Milwaukee Pizza Hut, 124 N. Chicago Ave., on Feb. 12. Police are conducting a homicide investigation into the death of 55-year-old Alex Stengel of Cudahy, whose body was found there Feb. 7.

South Milwaukee police have arrested a 31-year-old Milwaukee man in connection with a homicide investigation into the death of a 55-year-old man whose body was found at the South Milwaukee Pizza Hut last week.

A large police presence was seen near a different Pizza Hut at 3131 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Milwaukee on Sunday, Feb. 11. South Milwaukee Police Chief Bill Jessup confirmed Monday, “we did make the arrest at that location.”

A Feb. 11 news release from the South Milwaukee Police Department said charges will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the coming days.

Workers in white full-body protective suits were spotted behind large crime scene barricades erected around the dumpsters at the South Milwaukee Pizza Hut.
Workers in white full-body protective suits were spotted behind large crime scene barricades erected around the dumpsters at the South Milwaukee Pizza Hut.

On Feb. 7, Pizza Hut, 124 N. Chicago Ave. in South Milwaukee, was surrounded by police tape. The body of Alex Stengel, a Cudahy resident, was found “in a garbage cart" that morning, according to South Milwaukee police.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's autopsy report lists Stengel as a manager of the Pizza Hut and said he was last seen alive working on Feb. 6. His preliminary cause of death is listed as homicide.

A GFL garbage truck was sitting idle in front of the dumpsters for hours Feb. 7 while workers in white hazmat suits examined the area around the dumpsters. A line of about a dozen evidence markers on the ground stretched from the garbage enclosure to the Pizza Hut building.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Crime Scene Response and the Wisconsin State Patrol were on scene. South Milwaukee police said the State Crime Lab is also assisting with the ongoing investigation.

A memorial of flowers has since been attached to the dumpster enclosure.

Contact Erik S. Hanley at erik.hanley@jrn.com. Like his Facebook page, The Redheadliner, and follow him on X @Redheadliner.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Police arrest Milwaukee man, 31, in killing of Pizza Hut manager