#mark jensen

Julie Jensen and Mark Jensen met at college in 1981. They married and settled down in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, and had two children together. On the 3rd of December, 1998, Mark called an ambulance, claiming he had found his wife dead in bed. He said that Julie had been depressed and suicidal and that she had committed suicide.

However, what appeared as a tragic case of suicide soon turned even more sinister when Julie’s neighbour handed a letter to police. The letter was sealed and the neighbour claimed Julie had given it to him and told her to keep it safe and give it to police if anything happened to her. “I pray that I am wrong and nothing happens, but I am suspicious of Mark’s suspicious behaviours and fear for my early demise,” she wrote in part. She also wrote that she refused to leave her husband because of their two young sons. An autopsy concluded that Julie had died of antifreeze poisoning and suffocation.

Mark Jensen was arrested and ordered to stand trial for his wife’s murder. Meanwhile, their two children moved in with the woman Mark had been having an affair. The defence argued that the letter was just Julie trying to frame him for her suicide. Julie had seen a therapist for depression in the past and was aware of her husband’s affair. However, several witnesses were produced - including a neighbour and her son’s teacher - that all claimed that Julie had confided in them that she was afraid her husband was trying to kill her. Moreover, Mark had confessed to several other inmates.