Wisconsin murder suspect arrested during traffic stop in Brandon

Tina McMenamin, an 18-year-old UNL freshman, was stabbed and sexually assaulted in her apartment on July 25, 1995.

Gregory Gabel, a mentally ill man from Lincoln, was arrested in the murder and was always the prime suspect, an investigator said, even after crucial DNA evidence failed to link him to the crime scene. Gabel has a computer-like memory for facts and figures and has a history of accompanying women at businesses and public events, retired investigator Rich Doetker said in 2005.

McMenamin was killed at 5:30 p.m. in 1995, shortly before her work appointment at Godfather’s Pizza. Roommate Sarah Bognich found her friend in a pool of blood that night.

“The apartment was searched. I walked past the bedroom a few times before I noticed her on the floor. After that my life changed. I tried to go back (to college) but could never make it.”

A single hair McMenamin was holding led police to Gabel. It matched his DNA, a one in 1,049 chance. Circumstantial evidence also linked Gabel to the residence. And a man matching Gabel’s description was seen fleeing the scene, Amberwood Apartments, 4600 Briarpark Drive.

That night, Gabel was at a Sonic Drive-In a block away. He was there every Tuesday evening cleaning up in exchange for food. And Gabel had previously been convicted of third-degree sexual assault and public indecency. The police arrested him a year after the crime.

But two years later, when another DNA test proved the hairs did not come from Gabel, he was released. However, that hair didn’t necessarily belong to the killer, Doetker said. The investigator also has doubts about the validity of the second DNA test, which was carried out in a laboratory in Pennsylvania.

“Questions arose: Was it the right hair? “The same hair?” he said.

The murder charge against Gabel was dropped in hopes that additional evidence would be found to arrest him again, Doetker said. If the case goes to trial and Gabel is found innocent, Doetker added, it could not be retried if new evidence comes to light.

Mary Hepburn-O’Shea, who has worked in the mental health field in Lincoln for decades and has known Gabel for many years, said in 2005 that the man lost two years in prison for something he didn’t do.

Hepburn-O’Shea runs OUR Homes downtown, the city’s largest provider of people with developmental disabilities, which also houses people with mental illnesses. Gabel lives and works there. “He’s a strange boy,” she said. “He’s never a violent child.”

Then-Deputy Police Chief Jim Peschong added in 2005 that one cannot judge a case based on personal beliefs and assumptions. Peschong said he personally believes there is a suspect but declined to name anyone.