ELKHORN, Wis. — We are fast approaching 48 hours since a couple was shot and killed inside a sports bar in Elkhorn.
Gina Weingart and her husband Emerson had only been married for 8 months when their lives came to a tragic end.
The couple was murdered just after midnight on Thursday while at the Sports Page Barr. Family members tell us Gina worked at the bar part-time and Emerson would hang out with her until she closed the bar.
Flash forward to Friday night and a memorial of flowers, candles and pictures of the couple is growing outside of the bar,
Meanwhile, law enforcement remains tight lipped about the investigation.
Law enforcement leaders have yet to share any details about whether they have identified the suspect. The last we heard from police Thursday morning is the shooter remains at large.
The Elkhorn Police Department told TMJ4 they have no new information to provide on Friday.
“It was tough to hear because nothing like this happens in a town like this,” said Olivia Nordmeyer.
For Nordmeyer, it’s hard to grasp that two people were killed just steps away from where she works. She thinks it’s just as troubling not knowing anything about the person who did it.
“It’s definitely tough to not have any information and have to live around something like that and you don’t know if someone that did it is sitting right next to you,” she said.
Nordmeyer thinks Elkhorn police should share whether they have a suspect. Authorities have only advised people in the area to take ‘reasonable steps’ to protect themselves.
“I think that they haven’t told us as much as they can.”
We took Nordmeyer’s questions to Joel Rhein, a retired police officers with three decades of experience. He’s now the president of the Wisconsin Crime Prevention Practitioners Association.
“What would you tell people in Elkhorn who think they deserve to have more information on the suspect?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"I would say patience here,” Dhein said. “When I was a public information officer, detective teams would tell you a lot of stuff about a case and if you went public it could compromise the case or taint it completely, so timing sometimes is everything for this."
“On the flip side, why might a department share the name of a suspect, a picture or a description of what they look like when they’re at large?” Jordan asked.
“It’s kind of a case-by-case deal,” Dhein replied. “I’ve had some where you've had a run away or something. And I've been on both sides of the fence. It really varies, different crimes, different cases and that's why I think patience is really important here because law enforcement is doing the best they can under this tough case here obviously."
The Elkhorn investigation is nearing the 48-hour mark since the crime occurred. Several national law enforcement studies say if police don’t have a solid lead by that time, the chances of solving a murder are cut in half.
Dhein says this case is getting all sorts of resources from the police and sheriff’s department all the way up to the state to make sure it isn’t part of that statistic.
Laurie Kyle is a business owner in downtown Elkhorn. She trusts the police department’s discretion on what details are worth sharing and what needs to be withheld.
"I feel like if you let some of that information out, it just fuels the fire of fear in another way. We just have to maintain and find our peace in how we move forward and when we're supposed to know, we're going to know,” she said.
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