Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski formally charged University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student Jennifer Strasser with obstruction of an officer Thursday, after she repeatedly stabbed herself on the UWGB campus in the front and lower abdomen Oct. 6.
Strasser subsequently reported to police she had been attacked and even provided a description of her attacker.
"The next day when they continued to question her, she eventually confessed that she had done this herself, she had inflicted the wounds herself," Zakowski said. "She talked about her mental health issues and in fact that she hadn't planned on doing this but that she just went out and stabbed herself and then reported it as an assault."
UWGB spokesperson Scott Hildebrand said he had not heard of any speculation about the incident as an attempted suicide. Strasser, he said, walked over half a mile from the arboretum trail where she stabbed herself to her residence hall where she then called the police.
Zakowski said inconsistencies in her story led authorities to doubt its veracity, including suspicious points such as her shirt not having any puncture wounds and a bloody knife found in her apartment. Strasser's doctor, he said, reported the puncture wounds appeared to be self-inflicted and saw evidence of "hesitation marks."
"Clearly there [were] obstruction charges that were warranted [and] the state's looking for a conviction on the charge," Zakowski said. "There needs to be a conviction for the obstruction, it's more than just getting stopped by the police for a traffic violation and then giving a false name, this had significant consequences."
Obstruction of an officer carries a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine or nine months in jail. Given the circumstances, Zakowski said the state will not be pursuing the maximum sentence.
"She did obviously eventually confess and she's apologized and those things will be taken into consideration," Zakowski said. "Certainly her mental health issues are part of the case and they're to be respected and you can have some concern for the problems that she goes through but at the same time this is a significant obstruction case."
Hildebrand said the incident has spawned a whole range of emotions in the campus community, from concern over Strasser both before and after the facts came out to frustration over the hoax.
"The concern sort of shifted to … a little bit of frustration on the part of the students about the alert that the campus was put on only to find out what was first reported didn't actually happen," Hildebrand said.
According to Hildebrand, Strasser withdrew from the university "late last week" amid criminal charges. He said the decision to withdraw was made by Strasser and not the university.
"I want to give kudos to our student government, which over the last couple of years has been very proactive about campus safety issues and encouraging students to take responsibility for their personal safety," Hildebrand said. "We think by just about any standard of comparison we have a very safe campus here at UW-Green Bay."
The obstruction charge comes less than two years after former UW-Madison student Audrey Seiler inspired nationwide news coverage when she went missing in March 2004, only to be found several days later.
Seiler initially claimed to have been abducted but much like Strasser, once confronted with evidence to the contrary, admitted to staging the entire incident.
"Anybody that does this has some issues, significant issues," Zakowski said. "What about the next person who really is assaulted? What kind of residual effect is that going to have? So that's why [we are] going to have to take some action and [Strasser is] going to have to be held accountable."
