PORTAGE, Wis. — A man charged in a 2022 kidnapping-turned-homicide was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of extended supervision, online court records show.
Jesse Freiberg, 29, pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2023 to first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime. Laura Johnson, 40, and Ja’Kenya Patty, 22, were also charged in the case.
READ MORE: ‘We want the car’: 3 facing homicide charges in kidnapping-turned-killing
The three were arrested in June 2022 after Patty reportedly tried to run over Freiburg with a stolen car. Prosecutors alleged that Freiberg, Patty and Johnson stole the car after holding a man in Madison “hostage” with a box cutter on June 14, 2022.
After hitting the man with a metal object, they allegedly dragged him into his car. Freiberg and Patty allegedly split driving time as the group made their way to Columbia County, with the victim held in the back seat.
Eventually, the group stopped near a body of water in the Portage area and got out. At that point, the man tried to run away but Freiberg allegedly shot him.