A Boy Named Red: A True Crime Story

In March 1960, two students at Divine Word Seminary in East Troy discovered their 15-year-old classmate, Kenneth "Red" Rudnitski, hanging from the clothes hook in a bathroom stall. He was barefoot and dressed in his pajamas.

Walworth County botched its one-hour investigation into Red's death. Although the manner, mode, and circumstances were highly suspicious, Walworth County ruled suicide. The County Sheriff did not request an autopsy. He did not advise the county prosecutor to open a suspi...