Complaint: Man charged in Green Bay killings has history of violence against women

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A man charged with the killings of two women in Green Bay Sunday admitted to a history of violence against women, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Action 2 News.

The Brown County District Attorney’s Office filed charges Wednesday against Richard Sotka: First-Degree Intentional Homicide by Use of a Dangerous Weapon with a domestic abuse assessment, First-Degree Intentional Homicide by Use of a Dangerous Weapon, and felony Bail Jumping.

That’s in addition to charges filed Monday accusing Sotka of Criminal Damage to Property, felony Bail Jumping, and two misdemeanor counts of Bail Jumping. The property damage charge stems from allegations Sotka broke and disposed of a GPS ankle monitoring bracelet shortly after it showed him at the scene of the murders.

As we’ve reported, police found the bodies of a 58-year-old Green Bay woman and a 53-year-old Bellevue woman at a duplex on the 1600 block of Elkay Lane on the city’s east side after receiving a 911 call from a friend of one of the victims. The women’s names have not been made public.

A criminal complaint obtained by Action 2 News states police received a call at about 11:15 a.m. Sunday from a friend of the victims who found the bodies at the duplex.

Autopsies found the victims had been stabbed to death.

A witness told investigators that Richard Sotka had been dating one of the victims. Detectives identified Sotka as a person of interest in the case. They learned Sotka had open cases out of Oconto County and an active restraining order against him. One of the cases is for stalking. Part of the bond conditions in the Oconto County stalking case includes wearing an electronic monitoring device that confirms Sotka’s location. He was being monitored by a company called ADL Monitoring Solutions.

ADL pulled up GPS location records for Sotka and found that the device had been cut off and last pinged on the exit from Interstate 41 southbound and the Freedom Road off-ramp in De Pere. Investigators found the device in a ditch and collected it as evidence.

Officers were able to track Sotka through the onboard data system on his vehicle. They informed authorities that Sotka was in Arkansas. He was arrested during a traffic stop and taken to Mississippi County Detention Center.

Green Bay detectives traveled to Arkansas to interview Sotka at the jail. Detectives asked Sotka if he was ready to explain what happened and he agreed to speak, according to the complaint.

Sotka told investigators that he had recently moved in with his girlfriend at the Elkay Lane duplex. He spoke about the events that led up to the stabbing and that he had become jealous of his girlfriend and her friend and mentioned feeling “humiliated” by them.

Sotka stated his girlfriend asked him to get out of the house and “he just snapped.”

Sotka admitted to being drunk at the time of the killings and that he had taken two Adderall that day.

“I’m guilty of killing these girls but I’m not guilty of what they said I did in Oconto County,” Sotka said.

Sotka denied the stalking allegations against him in Oconto County, but he admitted to detectives that he has a history of violence against women.

“He shared with us that twenty-one years ago a female and him were in a relationship and he snapped in a similar way,” reads the criminal complaint. “He said he hurt her bad and that he went to prison for that. Later in the interview he said he had broken her leg, fractured her skull, and knocked out several teeth during that incident.”

Officers asked him where he was heading when he was arrested in Arkansas.

“He said one of them asked him where he was going and he told them he just had to take a ride because he knew this was his last little bit of freedom before he was caught. He said he knew these were going to be his last days to see anything,” reads the complaint.

Sotka remains in jail in Arkansas pending extradition to Wisconsin.

Police are still asking anyone who has information that can help investigators to call the police department at (920) 448-3200 and reference case #23-205264.

ORIGINAL REPORT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A criminal complaint identifies a person of interest in the killings of two women in Green Bay as Richard W. Sotka, 48.

Action 2 News obtained court documents filed Monday regarding charges of criminal damage to property and bail jumping against Sotka in Brown County. The documents state that police “gained information” that Sotka was a person of interest in Sunday’s double homicide at a duplex in the 1600 block of Elkay Lane in Green Bay.

Officers found the bodies of a 58-year-old Green Bay woman and a 53-year-old Bellevue woman at the residence. Their names have not been released.

Sotka has not been charged with the killings of the women. He was arrested Sunday afternoon in Arkansas where he’s being held in jail.

The criminal complaint filed Monday says investigators found Sotka had open cases out of Oconto County and an active restraining order against him. One of the cases is for stalking. Part of the bond conditions in the Oconto County stalking case includes wearing an electronic monitoring device that confirms Sotka’s location. He was being monitored by a company called ADL Monitoring Solutions.

ADL pulled up GPS location records for Sotka and found that the device had been cut off and last pinged on the exit from Highway 41 southbound and the Freedom Road off-ramp in De Pere. Investigators found the device in a ditch and collected it as evidence.

Green Bay detectives traveled to Arkansas to interview Sotka at the jail. No information has been released regarding their discussion.

Officers say GPS data placed Sotka at the scene of the Green Bay double homicide at 1657 Elkay Lane at about 2:35 a.m. Sunday. His bracelet was cut off at about 2:54 a.m.

“Richard Sotka admitted to investigators he recalled ‘chucking’ or ‘throwing’ the bracelet out the window of a truck but did not recall where,’” reads the criminal complaint.

On Sunday, at about 11:15 a.m., a friend of the women killed in Green Bay went to the house on Elkay Lane and “noticed what she thought was a suspicious death or someone that was in need of emergency services, backed out, and called 911 and waited for police to arrive.”

Police believe the unnamed suspect knew at least one of the victims and may have spent some time at the Elkay Lane home, though detectives said it was not a “permanent residence” for him.

Detectives said the women who were killed in Green Bay were friends, or at least known to each other.

Action 2 News has obtained the criminal complaint filed against Sotka in Oconto County for stalking, bail jumping, and violating a restraining order.

In 2022, officers received reports that Sotka had threatened to kill an ex-girlfriend and her family. Sotka had been spotted driving past the woman’s home and photographing her new boyfriend.

A witness stated Sotka had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend by “sneaking in the woods near the home and using a rifle.” He had also mentioned using a bow “because it was quieter,” according to the witness.

Sotka was a felon and had asked to borrow the witness’s handgun. The witness also alleged Sotka wanted her to do a straw gun purchase for him.

Text messages showed Sotka trying to convince the witness to drop off the handgun at his house “so he can familiarize himself with it.” The witness stated he believed he wanted to use it to kill his ex-girlfriend.

The witness said Sotka also had a complaint open in Marinette County for allegedly assaulting his nephew.

The witness also stated that Sotka had tried to get her to poison her mother on Thanksgiving “by putting rat poison in the food.” The witness showed investigators a text from Sotka with a picture of the poison.

In March of 2022, Sotka entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the stalking case.

In May, he was released after posting a $10,750 bond. Conditions of bond include absolute sobriety, no contact with the victim, and an electronic monitoring bracelet.