Investigators say Wisconsin inmate killed his cellmate for being Black and gay

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An inmate doing time at a maximum security prison in Wisconsin for trying to kill his mother strangled his cellmate for being Black and gay, investigators said.

Prosecutors charged Jackson Vogel, 24, on Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide with hate crime and repeat offender penalty enhancers in the killing of 19-year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution.

Vogel was 16 when he repeatedly stabbed his mother with a knife, strangled her and attempted to snap her neck, according the appellate opinion upholding his conviction and 40-year sentence. An attorney who handled Vogel’s appeal, Erica Bauer, didn’t immediately respond Friday to an email requesting comment on the new charges.

Laureano was sentenced in January to two years — one behind bars and one on extended supervision — for being a party to substantial battery. His attorney, Maura McMahon, has described Laureano as a funny, thoughtful young man who was a talented artist. She didn’t immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment from her and Laureano’s family.

The criminal complaint against Vogel includes grim details about what happened in the cell, where Laureano was put with Vogel just a few days earlier.

A guard was making rounds on the evening of Aug. 27 when he noticed a piece of paper was covering the window to their cell. Vogel removed the paper at the guard’s order, revealing Laureano’s body hanging from the top bunk with his hands and ankles tied together with orange material.

Vogel, who is white, told the guard he killed Laureano for being Black and gay, the complaint said. Vogel told another guard that he knocked Laureano out, tied up his hands and feet and then strangled him to death, according to the complaint.

He told a sheriff’s deputy that he didn’t like Laureano from the day he met him, and that he killed him because he was bored and Laureano “checked all the boxes,” including being Black and gay, the complaint said. He said he always thinks about killing people and strangling someone created “ecstasy.”

Investigators discovered numerous cut strips of orange cloth around the cell as well as a handwritten note that said “Kill all humans!” followed by profanities directed at Black people and gay people, according to the complaint.

Laureano is the sixth inmate to die in a Wisconsin maximum security prison since June 2023. Five died at Waupun Correctional Institution. Two killed themselves, one died of a fentanyl overdose, another died of a stroke and another died of malnutrition and dehydration.

Waupun’s former warden, Randall Hepp, and either other Waupun staff members were charged this past June with misconduct in connection with the stroke and malnutrition deaths.