A Wisconsin man has been jailed for the gruesome killing of his Pizza Hut manager, whose body was found stuffed in trash bags and tossed in a dumpster behind a Milwaukee pizzeria.
Kavonn Ingram admitted to shooting and killing 55-year-old Alexander Stengel, but told Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michelle Havas on Friday that it was self-defense, WDJT reported.
“I take responsibility for my wrong actions taken after the altercation at Pizza Hut,” Ingram said. “However, the events leading up to the altercation, as well as the physical fight, caused me to act in survival mode.”
The judge could not be swayed.
“Frankly, I don’t believe you,” Havas told him. “I don’t believe for one second that this was anything but a cold-blooded execution of someone who worked for 33 years for crappy wages at a Pizza Hut, because it’s what he could do.”
In the days before the February shooting, Stengel reportedly showed Ingram and other colleagues a large roll of cash, which was part of a $7,000 inheritance, according to Law&Crime. Investigators believe Stengel was killed two days later, on February 5.
Ingram is accused of trying to clean up the murder scene and then covering up for Stengel’s absence by texting his regional manager from the victim’s cell phone and saying he wasn’t feeling well.
Records show that the victim clocked out of work roughly 25 minutes after the suspect was seen on surveillance video dragging the garbage can from the Pizza Hut to the dumpster. Investigators say Ingram clocked out for him.
Stengel’s body was found on February 7 by a trash collector who called police.
“Officer Hesse could see shoes attached to feet and legs sticking out of the can and underneath the plastic bag,” according to court documents.
Police noticed a trail of dried blood that led from the body to the back door of the restaurant. But inside, they found a “portion of the tiled kitchen floor” that was “uncharacteristically clean.”
A further search led police to discover what appeared to be “coagulated blood/flesh on the bottom of the slop sink,” a bloody mop and what appeared to be a blood smear on the closet light switch, Law&Crime reported.
Investigators identified Ingram as one of the employees that knew the victim had a large amount of money, which he had apparently cashed just before heading to work the day he was killed, Fox6Now reported.
Ingram was arrested on February 11. In August, he pleaded guilty in August to first-degree reckless homicide.
Ahead of Ingram’s sentencing on Friday, Stengel’s sister Pamela Stengel spoke out in court about their family’s heartbreak over losing him.
“I imagine his suffering. And his agony,” she said “His voice haunts me. I wonder what he was thinking in those last moments.”
A restitution hearing for Ingram is scheduled for next month.
