Man who used dating app to find murder victims will never be eligible for release from prison

GREEN BAY – In a rare occurrence, defense attorneys for a Michigan man who murdered a Green Bay man he found through a dating app during a three-day, three-state crime spree in 2022 requested a harsher sentence than the prosecutor's.

Caleb Anderson, 25, killed 65-year-old Patrick Ernst, of Green Bay , in August 2022 before driving to Alabama and killing a second man. Anderson pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide in Brown County in August .

At Anderson's sentencing hearing Monday afternoon, Brown County Deputy District Attorney Wendy Lemkuil recommended Anderson be sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for release on parole in 60 years. However, Anderson's attorney, Carrie LaPlant, gave no sentencing argument except that the defense "is in agreement" with the pre-sentence investigation report — which recommended life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh accepted the defense's recommendation. The homicide, he said, was "very, very disturbing and troubling," and its random nature further emphasized the need to protect the public from Anderson forever.

"The gravity of the offense really can't be overstated," Walsh said.

Anderson is already serving a life sentence without parole eligibility in Alabama for slaying the second man, whom Alabama media outlets identified as 52-year-old Dwight Dixon.

In the prosecution's sentencing argument, Lemkuil explained that although Anderson was already serving a life sentence in Alabama, it was necessary to bring him to Brown County for prosecution in order to bring justice to Ernst's family, and to ensure Anderson is held accountable on the chance that something happens to overturn his Alabama sentence.

No one shared any victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing, but attorneys said Ernst's family had submitted a letter for Walsh to read. The letter was sealed from public viewing.

According to a criminal complaint, police found Ernst dead in his home on Packerland Drive on Aug. 2, 2022, while conducting a welfare check after they were notified by someone concerned he had not shown up for work or been in touch with family in more than a day. On a piece of paper left on a chair near Ernst's body was a handwritten note saying, "I am so sorry he didn't deserve this."

Written on the wall near Ernst's body was a Bible verse, the letters RIP and the date Aug. 1, 2022.

A Brown County forensic pathologist determined Ernst had received around 51 stab wounds.

"It was just a gruesome, gruesome scene that law enforcement came upon," Walsh said at the sentencing hearing.

In the spot where Ernst's car was usually parked, investigators instead found a vehicle registered to Anderson, the complaint says. They soon learned law enforcement in Michigan were looking for Anderson as the primary suspect in an assault investigation from the previous day.

Anderson was arrested Aug. 3, 2022, after he killed the man in Alabama. According to the complaint, he confessed to both homicides and the assault in an interview with police in Alabama.

Anderson told police on the morning of Aug. 1, he woke up around 5 a.m. at his home in Michigan and considered driving to a military and mining equipment warehouse where he used to work to "take care" of a few people "he couldn't stand," the complaint says.

While out driving in Michigan before 6 a.m., he saw a woman jogging and thought about killing her. He told police he went after her and had her in a chokehold at one point and hit her a couple times, but let her go after he "started thinking of his mom."

Anderson then drove to Green Bay, purchased a phone from Walmart and installed a dating app. He created a profile using images he found online, he told investigators. When a man sent him a message, Anderson asked him indirectly if he had a vehicle.

Anderson went to the man's home, where he killed him with a knife he hid in a hoodie, he told investigators.

After killing Ernst, Anderson said he drove back to Walmart to purchase some items, then returned to the house. Walmart's security cameras captured Anderson's vehicle before the homicide, and Ernst's vehicle after the homicide, according to the complaint.

In his conversation with police, Anderson said ever since he was 14 or 15 years old, he "always just wanted to kill somebody," the complaint says.

He said he used the dating app "just to get somebody alone to kill them."

RELATED: Man who used dating app to find murder victims convicted of 2022 Green Bay homicide

Anderson said he left Ernst's apartment the following morning, Aug. 2, to drive to Alabama. There, he met another man through the same dating app and killed him using the same knife, according to the complaint.

At his sentencing hearing Monday, Anderson declined the opportunity to give a statement to the court.

A restitution amount Anderson must pay will be agreed upon at a later hearing, Walsh said at the hearing.

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com . Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Man who used dating app to find murder victims will never be eligible for release from prison