Traci Hammerberg Never Made It Home From The Party. Her Friend, Wendy Smith Was Murdered A Year Later.

🌞Traci Lynn Hammerberg🌞

She was very social with a wide variety of friends. She was quiet, friendly and sweet. 

Traci was born March 7th, 1966 to Judy Klabunde and Harlan Hammerberg in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family moved to Saukville, Wisconsin in 1976 where Traci had attended Port Washington High School. 

She had a habit of running away in the past, but in December of 1984, she was back living with her mother, stepfather, Robert R. Luebke and half sister, Jennifer Luebkeand. Traci also had a boyfriend who had recently moved to North Dakota. She always wore his class ring and had plans to join him.

On Friday, December 14th, 1984, Traci babysat from 7:20 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., at a house on Dries Street in Saukville. Afterwards she decided to walk to S&S Foods, on West Dekora Road and Tower Street, to meet up with friends. She was dressed in a nice pair of jeans, a light green sweater and a dark green jacket. 

From the grocery store, Traci and her friends got in a car and went to Quade's Tavern in Port Washington. There she bought a six pack of beer and told the bartender that she was going to a party. 

After the tavern, Traci and her friends went to a party on South Garfield avenue. There they played a beer drinking game and smoked marijuana. At midnight, one of her friends' brothers arrived at the party. They decided to go to S&S Foods and asked Traci if she wanted a ride, but she declined.

Around 12:30 a.m., Traci left on foot for 3.7 mile walk along Wisconsin Highway to her home at South Mayfair Drive in Saukville. She would often walk from Portland to Saukville and often would accept rides from friends as well as hitch hike.

At 5:45 a.m., a hunter, that lived on Maple Road, went outside of his home to retrieve his hunting gear when he saw a mid-sized dark colored sedan with their lights off, peeling out of the driveway next door and head south on Maple Road. At the same time, another hunting in the nearby woods, saw the same vehicle. 

Another resident, on Maple Road was on his way to work when he came across Traci's battered body laying in his snowy driveway. She let out a moan and then was silent. The resident ran inside and called the sheriff at 6:25 a.m. He then went back outside and stayed with Tracy until the sheriff arrived. 

Traci was half naked with blood in the snow and trees around her. An open pack of Marlboro cigarettes were at her feet. She had been raped, strangled and had multiple skull fractures from a metallic object. The autopsy stated that she died of her head injuries. It also revealed that she had tried to fight off her attacker.

DNA was recovered from the scene and a Behavioral Analysis Unit assisted with creating a criminal profile. The Sheriff's office interviewed hundreds of witnesses. More than 400 men were eliminated as suspects through blood typing and DNA analysis.

A year later, Wendy Smith, a friend and former classmate of Traci was found dead. Her death was ruled a homicide while her cause of death was investigated. In 1985, Wendy was 18 years old and was reportedly walking from a friend's house to a tavern where her mom worked. She came upon Thomas Kirsch near the hill where N. Wisconsin Street meets Johnson Street. It's unclear what happened next, but her body was found more than 24 hours later on the hillside, and Kirsch was convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree sexual assault. (That is all i could find on Wendy. If you have a picture of Wendy or anymore information about her life, please post it or let me know.)

In March of 2019, a breakthrough finally came thanks to an emerging science known as genetic genealogy. Combining physical evidence left on Hammerberg's body with public DNA databases like MyHeritage and GEDmatch, investigators identified the killer's second cousin. 

From there, they worked through a family tree until they landed on Philip J. Cross.

Cross and Traci might have known each other, but they weren't friends. Traci's brother, Ricky, remembered Cross from school. He road the same bus that they did. Ricky stated that Cross liked to pick fights on the bus, beat people up and others were afraid of him.

Cross was a loner and living with his parents on Green Bay Road in Port Washington at the time time of Traci's murder. He had been released from Dodge Correctional Institute in April of 1984. He would have been 21 years old at the time of Traci's death and was working the graveyard shift at Rexnord Plastics in 1984. Authorities suspect that Traci was picked up by Cross, in his 1972 Fury, after he left his work shift the night she was killed. His vehicle matched the description the hunters had given to police back in 1984.

Cross briefly attended Port Washington High School in 1978 before being incarcerated in Ethan Allen School in Whales, Wisconsin. He had called in bomb threats to a school and stole a car.

While at Ethan Allen School, he went missing three times. He was released in 1981.

In 1982, Cross was in the Ozaukee County Jail on drug and other charges. He cooperated with police and acted as an informant to develop cases on local drug dealers.

Police found Cross had a history of violent outbursts, as well as a history of drug use. He had a temper when he didn't get his way, once punching a hole in the wall during a fight with his girlfriend in 1983. After the fight Cross committed forgery and was incarcerated Dodge Correctional Institute until April of 1984.

September 26th, 1985, Cross was listed as a witness in a prowler complaint. A woman that worked at the same plant that Cross did, arrived home from work at 2 a.m when she saw someone in her bushes. Cross came up to the woman a few moments later, saying that he saw someone running away.

While working at the plant, he received complaints for leaving vulgar notes to coworkers, using bad language towards others, having bad work habits, a bad attitude and causing damage to machinery.

In 1988, Cross married and moved to Sheboygan where he attempted to strangle a women with his belt while she was giving him a ride home from a tavern. The woman escaped. She told authorities that she didn't know what had set him off and that she feared for her life. Cross later admitted to the incident, but claimed it happened differently.

Police were called to his home over 15 times for domestic violence issues. There were also allegations that Cross assaulted a young girl and abused alcohol and drugs.

In 2012, an arrest warrant was issued for Cross after he threatened hospital staff over the phone after not being allowed to see his girlfriend. When officers found 48-years-old Cross, he was unresponsive at the Diamond Inn motel with a crack pipe nearby and a needle in his lap. He had died of an overdose.

Authorities speculated that Traci rejected Cross' sexual advances and that the man went into a rage while he raped and killed her. 

Cross' DNA was analyzed and it was a match for that taken from Traci's murder scene. Cross also smoked the same brand of cigarettes that were found by Traci's body.

Traci's sister, Lorri Sell, said that she was grateful detectives never gave up on the case.