Tony Haase Was the Primary Suspect in a Decades Old Double Murder Case — Here's What Happened

Three decades after 23-year-old Tanna Togstad and 35-year-old Timothy Mumbrue were brutally murdered in March 1992, an arrest was made.

According to CBS News, in August 2022, police took 52-year-old Tony Haase into custody. The Weyauwega, Wisc., man was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the stabbing deaths of Togstad and Mumbrue.

During a traffic stop in July 2022, detectives took a DNA sample from Haase, which ended up matching DNA found on Togstad's body.

He later confessed to investigators, explaining that on that night, he got drunk because he was thinking about his father's death 15 years prior. This led Haase to Togstad's rural farmhouse, where the killings took place. Where is Haase now? Here's what we know.

Three years after his arrest, Haase was acquitted of the 1992 double murders, reports the Green Bay Press-Gazette. When Haase was initially interrogated by police, he told detectives he barely remembered that night. He was 21 years old at the time.

Over the years, snippets would return to him, but he only recalled getting into a "scuffle" with Mumbrue. After seeing reports of Togstad and Mumbrue's death, Haase said he was worried he had done it.

Regarding Haase's DNA at the crime scene, his defense team argued "investigators botched the collection of crime scene evidence and that there was an unclear chain of custody over the years, opening the door to potential contamination."

They also said Haase's confession was coerced following a seven-hour interrogation.

Haase's attorneys were able to present another possible suspect, who died in 1995. This person was related to Haase and had a history of violence towards animals, which is important as Togstad's dog was also fatally stabbed the night she was killed.

They also repeatedly threatened to kill multiple wives. This was enough to cause the jury to have that all-important reasonable doubt. Haase was found guilty of both murders.

After the verdict was read, there were mixed reactions in the courtroom. Naturally, Haase's family was relieved, but someone who was there for Togstad was less than pleased.

Richard Togstad, her brother, was shocked by the verdicts. "We were waiting 33 years for it, and when it went the other way, I still couldn’t believe it," he told WBAY. "I still don’t."

It's this disbelief that led Richard to take legal matters into his own hands. Richard filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Haase on behalf of his sister and their mother, Helen Hoffman, who died two days after Haase was arrested in 2022.

In the lawsuit, Richard claims Togstad suffered immeasurably before she died. As a result of her unsolved murder, their family "lived without closure" for more than three decades.

What really bothers Richard is the fact that Haase got to live a full life, while his sister was taken too soon. "He got to have kids; he got to have grandkids," said Richard about Haase.

"He got to have all these things. And Tanna got nothing, absolutely nothing, besides dead."

Through his attorneys, Haase "denied all allegations, often claiming insufficient knowledge of events, and raised multiple defenses including statute of limitations, lack of jurisdiction, and failure to state a claim," per NBC 26.

He asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which is seeking $17 million in damages.