Reinwand gets life for wife's 1984 death

STEVENS POINT - A man convicted of shooting and killing his wife whose death in 1984 was initially thought to be suicide listened in court Friday as her mother told a judge her “life was shattered” by the murder.

Joseph Reinwand, 56, was given a mandatory sentence of life in prison on Friday, about two months after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife, Pamela, 19, at their home in Plover on May 13, 1984. The sentence will be served consecutively to another life sentence Reinwand is already serving in connection with the 2008 shooting death of his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, a 35-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man named Dale Meister.

Alice Conwell, Pamela’s mother, told Portage County Judge Thomas Flugaur about how her life had been devastated by her daughter’s death and described feeling guilty for not making more of an effort to have the death investigated more thoroughly when it happened.

“I’m glad the truth has finally been told,” she said.

Renee Steger, Pamela’s sister, also was in court to describe how the family has lost out on enjoying a life with Pamela.

“We will never stop grieving the loss of what her life might have been,” she said.

The only thing for Flugaur to decide at the sentencing hearing was whether the life sentence for Pamela’s death would be served concurrently or consecutively with Reinwand’s other sentences, including the life sentence in Wood County.

Assistant Attorney General Robert Kaiser asked for the life sentence to be made consecutive; Reinwand’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Jazgar, asked to withdraw from the case at the start of the sentencing hearing, but Flugaur denied his request. Jazgar told Flugaur that Reinwand still claims he is innocent.

Reinwand declined to speak before he was sentenced.

Reinwand told investigators at the time or the death that he was sitting on the couch after the couple returned home from a night of dining and drinking when his wife grabbed a pistol off the kitchen table, pointed it at her own head and pulled the trigger, according to a criminal complaint.

Reinwand also told investigators at the time that he "slapped her up a little" when they returned home, then changed that to "OK, slapped her up a lot," the complaint said, but maintained that she killed herself with the pistol.

The case was reopened after new information came to light during the investigation into Meister's death. A jury found Reinwand guilty in Meister’s death Oct. 30, 2014, after a trial in Wood County.

Chris Mueller: 715-345-2251 or christopher.mueller@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter@AtChrisMueller.