A man from Wisconsin has been awaiting trial since 2021, when he was just 16. After multiple false starts, the case is finally moving forward. On Oct. 14, Logan Kruckenberg-Anderson sat through his final pre-trial hearing and will be charged as an adult for the killing of his newborn daughter.
Cases involving the killing of children rarely have a logical motive. That being said, Kruckenberg-Anderson was first arrested in 2021, when he admitted to killing his newborn infant daughter, Harper. The prosecutor immediately stated his intention to charge Kruckenberg-Anderson with first-degree murder.
Sometimes murder cases take decades-long twists and turns, with multiple detectives required just to get some answers. Other times, the case is open and shut — and Kruckenberg-Anderson’s just so happens to fall in the latter. As per his confession at the time of arrest, he first tried to place the newborn in a snow-filled tree while naked.
Again, this case is unique in that even the motive is clear, unlike others. Kruckenberg-Anderson had apparently decided alongside the mother of his child that they couldn’t keep the baby. Initially, Kruckenberg-Anderson attempted to give away the child to a person he met on Snapchat named Tyler. For $60, Tyler was expected to give away the child to an adoption home. But somehow, that plan was foiled.
And that was not the only plan that didn’t pan out. When Kruckenberg-Anderson left the child in the woods, her cries eventually broke him down, and he even fell to his knees. So he went back and shot the baby twice in her head.
According to Cafe Mom, another juvenile turned in a gun to the police a few days later, saying that the suspect had handed it to him. After the police ran the tests, they found that the caliber of the gun and the casing was an exact match. So that’s motive, confession, and murder weapon — there’s a low probability that this case won’t be resolved quickly.
But everything depends on whether Kruckenberg-Anderson decides to plead guilty. If he somehow decides to go against his earlier confession and claim that he gave it under some sort of duress, the case might drag a little longer. Everything right now points to him being found guilty and serving a long sentence behind bars. Wisconsin notably does not have the death penalty.
According to reports, the mother is facing no charges. The police were not able to implicate her with the murder or find any evidence that she was an accomplice to Kruckenberg-Anderson’s horrific crime. The trial is set to formally begin on Oct. 27.
The autopsy was able to ascertain that the child was alive when she was shot, meaning that the suspect had at least one more chance to rethink his awful action but still went through with the brutal murder. It’s small instances like this that will go into determining whether there will ever be parole years down the line. Currently, Kruckenberg-Anderson is 21 years old — he’s been celebrating at least four birthdays behind bars — and as things look, he’ll continue blowing candles behind those bars for a very long time.
