Pleasant Prairie Police Department

2004 New Releases Archive

06/20/2004 | Human Remains Found Along Shoreline Identified
Pleasant Prairie Police Detectives along with the assistance of the Kenosha County Medical Examiner's Office have identified the three human bodies found washed up along the Lake Michigan Shoreline Saturday Morning. They are identified as:

Kevin L. Amde, 45 YOA and his two sons: Tesla E. Amde 3 YOA and Davinci Amde 6 YOA, all of Chicago.

Amde and the two boys are survived by his wife and their mother Veronica, also of Chicago.

Forensic medical examination is ongoing and there is no official cause of death at this time however there is no evidence of violent trauma with any of these victims.

Amde and the two children were last seen on May 6, 2004 when the father picked Divinci up from school in Chicago. All three were reported missing to the Chicago Police Department on May 11, 2004 by their Mother, Veronica, at which time the Chicago Police Department initiated a missing persons investigation. The Medical Examiner has indicated that the time in the water would be consistent with the date missing.

We consider these deaths to be very suspicious and this case is being by handled by law enforcement as a homicide at this time. As has been reported, the bodies were found tethered together with a length of nylon rope. All three were tethered at the waist with the rope through either belt loops, the belt itself or as in the case of one of the children, wrapped around the waist. The knots securing this rope were tied in the front of all three victims. Also tethered to the bodies by means of this same rope were two nylon book or school type bags. Inside each of these bags, in addition to books and other personal items, were two sealed plastic zip lock bags filled with sand. I might add that the sand contained in these sealed ziplock bags added an additional 48 pounds of weight between them. One of the children also had pants pockets filled with sand which had been zipped closed.

The Pleasant Prairie Police Department is working together with our local FBI Office, the Chicago Police Department and the Kenosha County Medical Examiner's Office in this ongoing investigation. It is important to understand that we are very early into this investigation and are still in the process of developing information.

We intend to update the media as developments warrant either through written release or when necessary through media briefings. We do not anticipate the release of further information before Monday June 21, 2004.

Finally, on behalf of the Village of Pleasant Prairie and the Pleasant Prairie Police Department, I wish to extend our sincere condolences to Veronica Amde and the entire Amde family.

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