Jury finds Waukesha County man guilty in murder of neighbor named in hit list
CBS 58 WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A verdict has been reached in a Waukesha County murder case.
Just before 3 p.m. Thursday, a jury found 63-year-old Kevin Lychwick guilty of first degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.
It took the jury less than an hour to make their unanimous decision.
It's been a turbulent four days in the courtroom, with mounds of evidence and disputes between the defendant, judge, and prosecutors.
Prosecutors spent the four-day trial showcasing several pieces of evidence to prove Lychwick shot and killed his neighbor, Carlos Maldonado, and hid his body in the woods behind their apartment building.
Maldonado went missing in April 2024. His remains were found six months later, wrapped in a tarp behind the building where both he and Lychwick both lived.
Lychwick was charged after investigators said they found trail cam footage of him at the scene, a gun in his car matching the bullets that killed Maldonado, and a hit list in his apartment with the victim's name on it.
"We have an individual who is targeting the victim," prosecutor Chelsea Thompson said. "He has his name written in notes, he is up in a trail area at the top of the hill, he is hiding evidence related to a homicide."
The final day of the trial reflected the first three days of proceedings as Lychwick, who represented himself, hurled objections, often inserting personal testimony that the judge criticized as attempts to editorialize to the jury.
In closing arguments, he told the jury he barely knew Maldonado -- not well enough to want to kill him -- and claimed corruption led to his arrest.
Please find me innocent," Lychwick said. "I have a life out there. I am a good man; I am a God-fearing Christian. I just want to go home."
Ultimately, jurors could not ignore the evidence presented by prosecutors placing Lychwick at the scene of the crime, backed up by DNA evidence on guns and his handwritten hit list, titled "Operation Slop Shop," that listed the victim's name.
As the verdict was read, Lychwick told the judge he didn't know what else to say.
Prosecutors and the Maldonado family did not want to talk after the hearing.
Lychwick's conviction means mandatory life in prison. A pre-sentence investigation hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20.
