Inset: Carlos Maldonado (Court TV). Background: Kevin Lychwick during his sentencing hearing (Law&Crime).
A Wisconsin man who represented himself in his murder trial will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Kevin Lychwick, 64, was found guilty in June of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in connection with the death of 56-year-old Carlos Maldonado, whose body was found six months after he was believed to be killed. According to trial coverage by Court TV, Lychwick was seen on surveillance video on April 29, 2024, walking around the area where Maldonado was found on Oct. 30, 2024, a wooded area close to the apartment building where both men lived in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Prosecutor Chelsea Thompson said during Thursday’s sentencing hearing that Lychwick “ambushed [Maldonado] at the top of that hill. He knew Carlos would go up there to smoke, and he shot him twice. Two intentional shots.”
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Thompson said that while Maldonado’s body was too decomposed for authorities to know exactly what happened, “[m]y theory is that he shot him in the abdomen first, and then he shot Carlos in the head.” Maldonado’s remains were found in a wooded area in Waukesha, Wisconsin, wrapped in a tarp, and “left him there like trash.”
When police began investigating Lychwick in November 2024, they found what they referred to as a “hit-list” that contained the names of several people with whom Lychwick had purported grievances. Investigators executed a search warrant of Lychwick’s home and found documents reportedly labeled “Operation Slop Shop,” which contained references to Maldonado as a “threat.” White rope found in Lychwick’s home matched rope found on Maldonado’s body.
Investigators also searched Lychwick’s car and found a German Bowser Model Luger 1939 9 mm caliber semi-automatic, which was later determined to be the murder weapon.
Despite the evidence and the jury’s guilty verdict, Lychwick protested several times during the trial and proclaimed his innocence during Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
Maldonado’s sister and daughter both provided statements, both of them saying that Maldonado was in remission for cancer and was looking forward to a new chapter in his life. Maldonado’s sister told the court, “You took it upon yourself to play God.”
His daughter, through tears, said, “Maybe God will forgive you, but I won’t. I won’t.”
Judge David Maas tried to put a stop to Lychwick’s numerous outbursts and told him his “protestations in this case are the fantasies and the ravings of a narcissist.” He added, “The stunts that you have pulled are the last-ditch efforts of someone who recognizes that their reckoning is coming. And today, Mr. Lychwick, you are out of stunts. You are out of options. You are out of tricks. You are out of carnival acts. Today your reckoning has come.”
Lychwick was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder charge and 12½ years for hiding a corpse, 7½ to be served in confinement and five years of supervised release.
The post Man hid neighbor’s body for months after shooting him in the head and wrapping him up with tarp first appeared on Law & Crime.
