South side murder investigation: Friends say woman killed her own mother with a rock

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Nearly a dozen squad cars and forensics vehicles surrounded a south side home for most of the afternoon Sunday, Oct.12. Milwaukee police said they were investigating the death a 64-year-old who had been beaten to death with a stone.

A pair of women at the scene told reporters at the scene the victim was a lifelong friend of theirs. They identified the victim as Carrie Zettel, who had lived for decades at a home near the intersection of S. 23rd St. and W. Ramsey Ave.

Susan Henderson-Hoffman and her daughter, Loretta Moyer, said they lived around the corner from Zettel. Henderson-Hoffman said Zettel was a childhood friend, and they remained close into their 60s. Moyer said she considered Zettel to be a second mother.

"She was there for me. She was there for my daughter," Moyer said. "She would take my daughter to work. She would be there for Thanksgiving, Christmas. It was just always us."

Police said in an update Sunday night they had taken a 29-year-old into custody. Moyer and Henderson-Hoffman said they were told the suspect was Zettel's adult daughter. 

Court records show a person matching that daughter's name is 29 years old and previously shared an address with Zettel. CBS 58 is not naming the daughter because she has not been charged in connection to this incident.

Both Moyer and Henderson-Hoffman said Zettel had long lived in fear of her daughter. 

"Every day. She was terrified of her," Henderson-Hoffman said. "But she wasn't gonna turn her back on her. It was her daughter."

Court records show the 29-year-old woman was served with a domestic abuse restraining order in February of 2018. Within two months of the order, she'd been charged twice with violating the order. In both cases, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge ruled the woman was incompetent to stand trial.

In 2020, the woman was charged with misdemeanor battery and theft. In that case, a judge also found her to be incompetent. 

Moyer said she received a voicemail from Zettel around 4 a.m. Sunday morning saying the daughter was trying to get into her house. Moyer played a message from a contact named 'Carrie Z.' that came in at 3:53 a.m. Sunday. 

"[Name] was here just now, pounding on the doors, the windows. I called 911," a woman's voice said on the voicemail. "The police came, and they caught her under a tarp and she ran away, so I don't know. They're still here. They're gonna try to look for her."

Henderson-Hoffman said police were called to Zettel's house so often, she could tell that's where the officers were headed from the sound of the sirens.

"Do you know how insane it is to literally know where the sirens stop?" she said. "Do you know how weird that is?"

Around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Henderson-Hoffman said she heard sirens again and went to see what was happening. This time, it looked very different.

"I heard the sirens stop at her house, and I came around the corner, and I knew something was wrong," Henderson-Hoffmann said. "There were too many police."

There were forensic investigators' vans, red police tape and FBI personnel at the scene when media crews were there. Henderson-Hoffman said she pleaded with officers to let them know what happened to her friend.

"The officer just told me right out," she said. "It happened in the backyard, and she beat her mother to death with a rock."

The women said Zettel was a widowed mother of three. She was also a grandmother, and Moyer said she was a grandmother type of figure to other kids in the neighborhood.

"The kids- a couple kids, she lets them park their bikes in her yard before school," she said. "So they don't have to worry about them getting stolen."

Both Henderson-Hoffman and Moyer said they considered Zettel's death to be a result of the system failing to protect someone who knew they were in danger.

"This should've never happened," Henderson-Hoffmann said. "This should've never happened."