MILWAUKEE – A man is now charged with second-degree reckless homicide in a Milwaukee woman’s 2020 death.

While 43-year-old Kerry Whitehead is now accused, court filings state homicide detectives did not receive the case until September 2023.

At the scene

Police were called to a home near 6th and Albert, just southwest of Port Washington and Capitol, around 1:30 p.m. on May 10, 2020. Officers found the victim unconscious on a bedroom floor. Fire department personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

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A criminal complaint states Whitehead was at the scene. He said he lived with the victim, and later told police he thought of her as a wife. Whitehead told investigators the victim was drunk and fell down some steps two days earlier, hitting her head. Moments later, though, prosecutors say Whitehead changed his story – but again described the victim as being “sloppy drunk” and “drunk as (expletive).”

An autopsy determined the victim had blunt force injuries to her head, including brain hemorrhages, and a thyroid cartilage fracture. The complaint states the cartilage fracture is a common injury in choking cases. The autopsy concluded the woman died of a blunt force injury to her head.

Homicide case

At the time of the victim’s death, officers did not pursue her death as a homicide and did not refer it to homicide detectives. Court filings state MPD homicide detectives were not made aware of the case until 2023, when a different assistant medical examiner reviewed the initial autopsy report.

The new review noted that samples taken of the woman’s blood contained no alcohol, and alcohol would not have metabolized after the trauma. According to the complaint, it meant no alcohol was present in the victim’s system at the time she sustained the fatal injury, contradicting Whitehead’s claim.

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Homicide detectives then spoke with Whitehead on Sept. 28, 2023. The complaint states Whitehead maintained he and the victim had been drinking, but said it happened the night before her death. Detectives specifically asked if the victim had fallen down the stairs and if he picked her up; Whitehead answered “no” to both questions. 

Detectives later reviewed police reports of Whitehead allegedly abusing a woman in October 2020 – months after the vicitm’s death. The woman in that October 2020 case said Whitehead held her down by her throat and punched her in the side of the head. She said she fought to get away and asked, “Is this how you did your wife?” to which Whitehead answered, “Yeah, you crazy (expletive).” The woman also described conversations with Whitehead in which he described ways he could hit her without leaving a mark.

Court records show Whitehead is currently a Racine Correctional Institution inmate.