The detectives managed to solve Bob Mendez’s murder case after more than three decades.
An investigation into the 1982 murder of Robinson’s wife, a Northwoods man, within the credit union where she worked went unsolved for more than three decades until police finally caught him.
Robin D. Mendez of Minocqua was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Barbara Mendez 37 years ago at the $224 million Park City Credit Union building formerly located on Highway 51 in Minocqua following a trial presided over by Marathon County Circuit Judge Jill Falstad.
Judge Falstad determined that the prosecution had met its burden of proof, citing new information about Mendez’s fabricated alibis that had come to light during a cold case investigation.
Mendez has claimed that another man killed his wife and stole money from the credit union and that he did not commit the crime. While Mrs. Mendez was closing the branch after hours, a murder occurred.
The murder case
Bod Mendez was known as a 33-year-old credit union employee who was killed by Mr. Mendez using a crowbar.
According to an autopsy report, she died of several blunt head injuries, abrasions, lacerations, and a significant skull fracture.
The branch manager discovered her body. According to police detectives, Ms. Mendez’s deposit bag containing $2,700 had been stolen, but the safe was open and contained approximately $17,000, clearly visible but unopened.
The police and the 5,000 residents of Minocqua, a small town tucked away in the Northwoods forest of northern Wisconsin, have never forgotten the murder, despite the branch being closed and the case remaining unsolved for more than three decades.
According to the prosecution, an investigative team from the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office prepared a thorough probable cause report after examining boxes of files, studying details of the cold case and repeating interviews with 27 witnesses over months.
Mendez has two daughters, Dawn, her oldest daughter, who was 13 years old, according to reports, and Christy, who was 11 years old, her youngest daughter.
Respectively, the girls gave their statements to the police at the time of their mother’s death in January 2018.
The daughters claimed their father used them as pawns to fabricate an alibi for his whereabouts on the day of the murder. They also claimed to have challenged their father about it.
According to the police investigation, the daughters claimed that their father never denied killing his
woman and promised to tell them what happened to their mother one day.
A 14-year-old girl who attended the same church also had a sexual relationship with Mr. Mendez, a former youth pastor of the local church. She confessed to providing a false alibi for Mr. when questioned again by detectives.
