Federal Marshals, SPPD partner on murder suspect bust

By Brandi Makuski

Stevens Point police were called by federal authorities on Wednesday to help arrest a murder suspect.

According to Sgt. Robert Kussow, the SPPD was contacted by U.S. Deputy Marshall Emily Krueger early on Wednesday to say they’d located a murder suspect in a residence on the 400 block of Michigan Ave.

The marshalls came to Stevens Point from their Madison office, Kussow said.

The suspect, 22-year-old Jerome Buchanan of Chicago, has an open warrant in Illinois and is wanted on suspicion a first-degree intentional murder (the same charge in Wisconsin would be called “homicide”) that took place in Chicago on Oct. 17.

With 10 Stevens Point police officers and five U.S. Marshalls present, the search warrant was executed at 1:12 p.m., Kussow said. Ofc. Austin Lee and his K-9 partner Fala were also present in case the group needed help tracking Buchanan.

Kussow said when officers entered the residence, Buchanan jumped from a first-floor window of the home “and took off running”.

He led law enforcement on a short foot pursuit across Michigan Ave. and through Lot Q on the UWSP campus, where he was apprehended.

Buchanan was reportedly staying with a roommate who works in Stevens Point. He taken to the Portage Co. Jail where he awaits extradition to Illinois, Kussow said.