DODGE COUNTY, Wis. — A man who reported his wife missing nearly two years ago, only to be caught using her bank cards to buy cleaning supplies, will spend the rest of his life in a Wisconsin prison.
In July 2026, a Dodge County judge ordered Zachariah Rasch, now 44, to serve life without the possibility of parole for the murder of 37-year-old Crystal Rasch, plus an additional six years for concealing her body.
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| Crystal Rasch |
On June 23, 2024, Crystal Rasch’s stepmother called the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and reported that she had not heard from Crystal in weeks.
She said their last communication was a text message she received from the victim on June 11, and every call she tried since then went straight to voicemail.
When she stopped by Crystal’s home in rural Clyman, she saw her vehicle parked in the garage. Family members told her Crystal had gone to Michigan to visit a brother — but that brother later said he had never seen her.
“She was worried because Zachariah had previously harassed her, and she wanted to make sure he did not do anything to her,” the complaint states, as per Fox6 Now News.
This report led to an investigation, so deputies soon reached out to friends and relatives. None of them had seen Crystal since June 10, though several of them did receive Facebook messages that supposedly came from her.
But according to her loved ones, those Facebook messages seemed off. The tone and language didn’t sound like Crystal, and the person sending the messages refused to accept phone calls. Meanwhile, investigators also made multiple attempts to contact Crystal directly and never reached her.
When investigators first spoke with Zachariah Rasch, he said he had not seen or contacted his wife. However, as investigators dug deeper to verify his story, they uncovered that he had made some purchases with her debit and credit cards after she mysteriously disappeared.
He reportedly spent hundreds of dollars in transactions and was always alone during the spending spree. He also bought so many suspicious items that included stain remover, carpet cleaner, upholstery cleaner, and chemical-resistant gloves.
When detectives questioned him, he initially denied ever using her money. He said that the two kept separate bank accounts, had no shared access, and were living apart while going through a divorce.
Then detectives showed him surveillance photos and transaction records from a purchase made more than a week after he claimed he last communicated with Crystal.
According to police reports, Zachariah Rasch “sat quiet for a period of time staring at the photo” before saying he could not remember.
He eventually admitted he had been lying and had used her account without permission, however, he still maintained that he didn't know where she was.
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| Zachariah Rasch |
Due to his inconsistent statements, a search warrant was obtained for his home and during the search, detectives found receipts that matched the suspicious purchases he made with the victims cards.
Detectives also made emergency phone pings on two cellphones belonging to Crystal. One of of them last registered in Juneau on June 8, 2024, while the other showed an outgoing call that hit a tower in Adams County.
Zachariah had ties to two parcels of land in the town of Springville in Adams County so hundreds of law enforcement officers were sent to comb those properties.
There they found a 2023 Mitsubishi Eclipse registered to Zachariah with blood inside, and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab later confirmed that it was Crystal’s blood that was inside the car.
Investigators later inspected a burn site back in Clyman, that had “very heavy chemical odor,” and an excavation of the site revealed numerous bone fragments and a tooth.
A forensic dentist examined the tooth and, “within a reasonable degree of scientific and clinical reliability,” determined it belonged to Crystal Rasch.
Additionally, a medical expert concluded the bone fragments were “conclusively human” but could not identify the individual from the available remains.
Prosecutors also mined the defendant’s cellphone, and pulled up a timeline of searches that all pointed to planning a cover-up.
The search history included “can police trace ip address,” “will a gunshot to the head instant death,” “how long can you get widows benefits,” “carpet cleaner,” and “do raccoons eat bones.”
At the time authorities believe Crystal was killed, the phone was used to look up “BASIC GUIDE TO FOURTH AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS,” “how fast can police get a warrant,” and “missing people in Wisconsin.”
A jury heard all of this evidence during a seven-day trial in June 2026 and convicted Zachariah Rasch of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.
On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, Judge Brian Pfitzinger imposed the mandatory sentence — life imprisonment with no chance of parole — and added the six-year term for the concealment charge.
Crystal Rasch’s remains were never fully identified from the fragments, but the single tooth and the digital trail her husband left behind sealed the case.
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