William A Doxtator was born 1936 in Fond du Lac, and bounced around between Hilbert, Oshkosh and Menasha
1955, graduated from Hilbert High School. He went to work at the Fred Rueping Leather Company in Fond du Lac.
August 12, 1958, he was pulled over for speeding in Kaukauna. He was pulled over again two days later. At court, Doxtator was fined $10 for the first time and $15 for the second by Justice of the Peace Oscar Jahns. He gave his address as Hilbert.
October-November 1958, went through eight weeks of basic training at Fort Hood in Texas
November 1960, was arrested for multiple counts of breaking and entering. He burglarized the Penning drug store November 12 and the George Hemauer country store on October 19, both in Stockbridge. as well as stole gasoline from local farmers (including Roland Breit) and the Thompson Machine Company in Stockbridge. Over the summer, around 100 gallons of gasoline were stolen. Fingerprints found at the Penning store were turned over to the FBI, who matched them to Doxtator – his prints were on file from his military record. In December, Doxtator pleaded guilty and was palced on two years’ probation. He also implicated his accomplice, Ronald J. Coenen of Kaukauna (1073 West Wisconsin Avenue). Charges against Coenen were dropped when Doxtatoe said he only named him because he was jealous about a girl.
October 1961, was picked up as a suspect in the theft of gas from Paul Hietpas and a car from Jerome J. Schmidt, both in Kaukauna. He was found at a girlfriend’s house and held for questioning.
William Doxtator was identified as a suspect in a report dated June 19, 1963, a week after Wayne Pratt was found murdered. This report appears to be information relayed to Winnebago from the Little Chute Police. It indicates on 06-13-1963, Doxtator went into the police station and paid a $25 fine with two tens and a five. Doxtator had ‘remarked to Officer Jensen at Little Chute that he knew Wayne Pratt and his wife and that he had played with their little boy. Doxtator had given a current address and the fine he was paying off was the result of an arrest on June 1, 1963.
Notes from the Calumet Sheriff received 6-19-1963, indicate on 6-12-1963 (the same night as the Pratt Homicide) that Barney’s Superette was burglarized (near Sherwood) and a blue and white Olds was seen at the rear of the building. The last line reads, ‘Doxtator is very capable of this as he was sent to Green Bay once for B&E.’
On 6-19-63 an interview is conducted with Mike Kloeppel. Mike said that on 6-13-1963 at approximately 6:15am, a man drove up to the barn where he was milking. The man was driving an Oldsmobile, blue with a white top, that he thought wasa1955 or 56. Mike’s son told him that the male was a William Doxtator. After giving Doxtator some gas, Doxtator gave Mike $3 dollars for the gas. ‘Mike says that when Doxtator gave him the 3 one dollar bills he must have had at least 8 more bills in his wallet, but he don’t know what size bills were in the wallet.’ The car description matched that given by Marie Pratt and a semi driver of a car seen around the time of the murder.
On 6-22-1963, WISO Officer Wilbur Fuller spoke with Albert Martin. Albert indicated Doxtator had rented a room from him up until June 12. Albert said Doxtator moved out on the 12th between 11pmand midnight. Albert also told Officer Fuller that Doxtator’s last week of rent had been paid by his mother by check on June 8th. Albert Martin stated that ‘he knew that Doxtator didn’t have any money and had attempted to borrow$750.00 from any finance co. in Oshkosh, to buy a boat, he couldn’t get the money any where.’ Martin had seen Doxtator on the night of the 12th after 11pm (homicide occurred around 9pm) at the apartment Martin had asked Doxtator why he didn’t move out at a more reasonable hour and Doxtator had told him that he had taken a couple of girls home.
Doxtator was interviewed on 6-24-1963 by Lieutenant Richard Guenther of the Sheriff’s Office. During the interview, Doxtator indicated that he would go to the Pratt gas station to buy gas. He further stated that he had been there one night last week some time after 4 pm, but he didn’t remember which night. Doxtator said that then on Tuesday, June 11, the night before the murder, he had been moving out of Doxtator told Guenther he was with Judy Coenen and Pat Wilber on the-night of the murder and that they had gone swimming, and then to Judy’s house. He confirmed that he was on parole for Theft at the time of the interview.
January 7, 1968, Doxtator was arrested for the rape of a 14-year old girl in Menasha. He was living at 7545 South Oneida at the time. He could not afford the $500 bail and awaited trial in the Winnebago County jail. He was later sentenced to nine months in jail.
On 12-3-1968, a Marilyn Hanson was interviewed by Sgt. Cowling of the Sheriff’s Office. Marilyn Hanson indicated that her sisters are Karol Coenen and Mary Gillis. Judy Doxtator was William Doxtator’s wife and was a sister-in-law of Karol Coenen. Marilyn Hanson said her sisters had been out with Judy Doxtator and Judy had told them that she was with ‘Bill’ on the night that Pratt was killed. Judy had told Mary and Karol that she feels Bill got caught robbing the place, got into a fight, and killed the guy. Judy added this was around the time when Doxtator was robbing all kind of places. Marilyn Hanson said her sister Mary would confirm what had been said but her sister Karol, who was married to William Doxtator’s best friend Ronald Coenen, would not say anything.
On 12-4-1968, Mary Gillis was interviewed by Sgt. Cowling. Mary confirmed she had been out at a beer bar with Judy Doxtator and her sister Karol Coenen. Mary said Judy had told her, ‘she felt Bill had something to do with the killing of a filling station man in Oshkosh.’ Judy had said she was too afraid to tell anyone. Judy had said she felt Bill was caught robbing the place and killed the guy. Judy also told questioned by the police but had not told them anything. Mary Gillis felt Judy was sincere
and would not say things like this if they were nottrue.
On 12-05-1968, Judy Doxtator was interviewed by Lt. Fuller and Sgt. Cowling. She recalled to them on the night ofthe killing she waswith William Doxtator. Judy remembered Bill had been at her house._untilabout 10or llpm.Judycould not rememberif she had ridden homewith Bill fromOshkosh that night or not. Judy was asked about stopping or being in the vicinity ofthe filling station around the time ofthe crime but she denied this. She said she had been home at the time ofthe crime. Judy wasasked if she thought Bill wascapable ofkilling the person andshe didn’t know for sure, she stated she didn’t trust him.
This is the last time Doxtator would be mentioned in the police file for many decades. Later notes from a new generation of investigators notes there is not much “finality” with regard to Doxtator, which I would agree with – did pages go missing, or was there just not enough to follow up? The later report notes, again correctly, that many suspects were looked into, but the real focus seemed to be on Marie Pratt’s extramarital boyfriend.
April 1969, was in Outagamie County court passing five worthless checks. He had used a $25 check at Prange’s the previous November, and cashed four others at an Appleton grocery store. Doxtator was put on a year’s probation and ordered to pay restitution. At the time, he gave his address as Potter.
His later life was spent in Bowler
In 2009, Thomas Ganzel had contacted the Sheriff’s Office in reference to this case. Ganzel reported he overheard a conversation between his sister, Karol Hanold (Karol Coenen) and another person at a wedding. During this conversation, Karol Hanold (Coenen) had said that Judy Doxtator had told her William Doxtator had told her that he killed a guy at a gas station by Oshkosh. Ganzel did not have many details and indicated the Sheriff’s Office should reach out to Karol for more information.
On 3-11-2009, Karol Hanold was interviewed by Det. Makurat.Karol said she had no information that would help this case. She indicated Judy had never told her anything about William’s involvement in the killing of Wayne Pratt. Karol said she occasionally sees William Doxtator and talks with him.
In 2017, Sheri Devereau met with investigators reference this case. She indicated she was a medium/psychic and then laid out a story of how she had received information from other-worldly means that William Doxtator had committed the murder. Ms. Devereau was asked several times if she had any connection to the case or knew anyone involved in the case. Sheri said she did not. In an effort to gather more information about Ms. Devereau’s statements, police reached out to Mary Gillis, now Mary Ullman. Mary stated Sheri Devereau was her niece, more specifically her ‘crazy niece,’ who thinks she’s a psychic. Mary said that Ms. Devereau would have known all the stories about William Doxtator and anything Sheri told me she’s heard from someone in their family. Police asked Mary what she knew about William Doxtator. Mary said Judy Doxtator had told her that Judy had found a bloody knife in William’s car the day after the murder. Additionally, Judy had told her ‘Billy’ didn’t have any money and then the day after the murder he had cash. Mary also said her sister Karol still won’t talk to law enforcement about her conversations with Judy, because Karol still sees ‘Billy’ and is afraid of him.
With this information, police applied for a DNA warrant for William Doxtator in January of 2018, Det. Sleeter located William Doxtator and collected a DNA standard. William denied killing Wayne Pratt, but said he knew him ‘good.’ Mr. Doxtator said Wayne Pratt was a ‘good friend of his,’ but he was an ‘alcoholic.’ William stated he had a two tone blue 1955 Old’s at the time. William told us at one point they were going to give him a lie detector test but then a Sergeant punched him and there was an altercation, so he never took the test. William also made comments that he believed he was at the gas station either the day Pratt was killed or the day after. Mr. Doxtator said multiple times he had nothing to do with the homicide and he wouldn’t have hurt Pratt because he liked him. William indicated that the police really liked him for the Pratt murder and watched him for quite a while.
Doxtator died in 2022 at age 86
The State Crime Lab sent the Winnebago County Sheriff an updated DNA profile of William Doxtator on May 14, 2024. It was forwarded on to Cybergenetics and the next day they revealed their results: DNA matched him to the June 12, 1963 murder of Wayne Pratt in Neenah – his DNA (presumably blood) was on a blanket found at the scene. The sheriff’s department called Cybergenetics asking for a confirmation, which they said would take three weeks, but it was done. Using their TrueAllele system, they could match DNA that they could not previously. Interestingly, Cybergenetics said the blanket had three sample – Doxtator, Pratt, and a third unknown person. (Marvin Kilsdonk was also re-run at this time, with no match.)
The district attorney, Eric Sparr, said if Doxtator were alive, there would be sufficient evidence to prosecute.