Jury convicts Sotka in fatal stabbings

GREEN BAY — A Wisconsin man with Marinette ties has been convicted in the fatal stabbings of two women whose bodies were found last year in a Green Bay home.

The Brown County jury deliberated for about an hour Monday before convicting Richard Sotka, 49, of charges including two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the killings of Rhonda Cegelski, 58, of Green Bay, and Paula O’Connor, 53, of Bellevue, WLUK-TV reported. Sotka and Cegelski are both Marinette natives.

Sotka, of Green Bay, is set to be sentenced May 20. He faces two mandatory life prison terms.

Cegelski and O’Connor were found stabbed to death in the home in January 2023. According to a criminal complaint, Sotka told officers he “snapped” and killed the women after they laughed at him and he felt “humiliated.”

He said he then cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet he was required to wear, threw it in a ditch and drove to Arkansas, where he was arrested the same day that the bodies were found. Sotka was required to wear the monitoring device while out on bond in Oconto County, where he faces charges of stalking and violating a restraining order.