Ex-cop charged over hiding corpses

A former police officer suspected in the deaths of two women whose bodies were stuffed into suitcases and discarded on a rural Wisconsin highway met victims online, in one case possibly through a bondage website, according to police.

Steven Zelich, a 52-year-old security officer, was charged with two counts of hiding a corpse. He was arrested this week when detectives removed large, brown bags of evidence and a refrigerator from his apartment in West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb.

Highway workers discovered two suitcases containing female remains on June 5 in the Town of Geneva, some 80km southwest of Milwaukee. Police identified one woman as Laura Simonson, 37, of Farmington, Minnesota.