Jan 2, 1980 - Madison, WI - Unsolved
Shirley Stewart went missing after leaving her job at the Dean Clinic.
Jul 1981 - Madison, WI
The body of Shirley Stewart was found in a wooded area in the town of Westport. Her body was very decomposed and
Deputy Coroner Donald Scullion was unable to establish the exact cause of death
Shirley Eileen Stewart (17)
One of the
Capital City Murders
Nov 24, 2010 - Madison, WI
A Capital Times investigation found that of 10 unsolved murders being investigated by the Dane County Sheriff's Office, the Madison Police Department
and University of Wisconsin Police Department dating back to the pre-DNA decades, at least four have been compromised by the mishandling of evidence.
While police officials say recent advances such as bar coding and restricting access to evidence storage areas have improved their ability to keep
track of items that could potentially tie a suspect to a crime, a lot of evidence over the years has, for various reasons, been destroyed or simply
lost.
In the Stewart case, skeletal remains were turned over to a funeral home at an undetermined date, and in 1981 a 12-gauge shotgun shell, thought at
the time not to be connected with the case, was destroyed.
In October 1988, a bra, a Timex watch and hair found at the base of Stewart's skull were destroyed.
