Mark Jensen trial: Witness says WI man told him he was going to kill wife before her poisoning death
Mark Jensen murder trial expected to last at least another 4 weeks
KENOSHA, Wis. -- There was startling testimony Friday in the re-trial of Mark Jensen. The 63-year-old Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin man is charged with killing his wife, Julie Jensen, in 1998.
An autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation and antifreeze poisoning, WISN reported.
Many people in the area were shocked when the 40-year-old Julie was found dead. But Ed Klug said he wasn't surprised.
"He told me he was gonna kill his wife," Klug said on the witness stand Friday in Kenosha County Circuit Court.
Klug said that less than a month before Julie's death, he and Jensen had a disturbing late-night conversation while at a conference for work in St. Louis.
"He was talking about the strangest things," Klug said. "I mean, I couldn't believe that somebody would talk about killing their wife, you know it was kind of out of the blue."
Klug said that over drinks in the hotel bar, and later in the hotel lobby, Mark Jensen talked of poisons, including ethylene glycol, used as antifreeze. Klug said Jensen told him those poisons are undetectable, and "a way to get rid of the problem," he remembered Jensen saying.
Deputy District Attorney Carli McNeill asked Klug, "What was the problem that Mark Jensen had in his life when he was saying these things to you?"
Klug answered, "Well, the problem was he didn't want to pay maintenance, he wanted to have everything and have his, you know, friend, Kelly, move in with him."
McNeill asked, "And so the problem was his wife?"
Klug answered, "That's correct."
Klug went on to explain that he suspected Mark and another coworker named Kelly were having an affair. Prosecutors claim that affair was Jensen's motive for killing his wife.
"I was so surprised that somebody would talk like that, you know, poison your wife, kill your wife, all things that I had never been exposed to," Klug said.
Jensen's defense team tried to challenge Klug's account of their conversations, but it appeared to backfire because it reminded him of another detail.
Defense attorney Mackenzie Renner asked Klug, "Mark told you about websites?"
Klug answered, "That's correct."
Renner asked, "Did he specifically give any website addresses?"
Klug replied, "Yeah, he talked about poison, he talked about howtokillyourwife.com."
Renner tried to clarify asking "So, howtokillyourwife.com was something he brought up?"
Klug answered "Yes."
The prosecution still has more than 60 witnesses to call in their case, and the defense lists an additional 24. The trial is scheduled to last for another four weeks.
