Husband Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Wife in a CU Branch

A Wisconsin judge last week sentenced a 70-year-old man to life in prison for murdering his wife in 1982 while she closing a credit union branch.

During a bench trial, Marathon County Circuit Judge Jill Falstad convicted Robin D. Mendez of Minocqua for the first-degree murder of Barbara Mendez 37 years ago at the $224 million Park City Credit Union building that had been previously located on Highway 51 in Minocqua.

Judge Falstad ruled prosecutors met their burden of proof, which included new evidence of Mendez’s fake alibis that surfaced during a cold case investigation. Mendez has denied committing the crime, claiming that another man had been responsible for killing his wife and stealing money from the credit union.

The murder occurred after business hours while Mrs. Mendez was closing the branch.

Mr. Mendez used a pry bar to kill the 33-year-old credit union employee. She died from multiple blunt head injuries, abrasions and lacerations and an extensive skull fracture, according to an autopsy report.

A branch manager discovered her body. Mrs. Mendez’s deposit bag that contained $2,700 was missing, but the safe was open and about $17,000 was plainly visible but untouched, according to police investigators.

Although the branch has been closed and the murder case went cold for more than three decades, it was never forgotten by police and the 5,000 residents of Minocqua, a small town nestled in the Northwoods forest in northern Wisconsin.

After reviewing boxes of documents, combing through the cold case’s details and re-interviewing 27 witnesses over several months, an Oneida County Sheriff’s Office investigative team produced a comprehensive probable cause report, prosecutors said.

In January 2018, police re-interviewed Mrs. Mendez’s daughters, Dawn and Christy, who were 13 and 11, respectively, when their mother was murdered.

The daughters told police they were manipulated by their father to give him a fake alibi for his whereabouts on the day the murder occurred. They also said they confronted their father about it.

In addition to never denying that he killed his wife, the daughters said their father promised he would someday tell them what happened to their mother, according to the police investigation.

Additionally, Mr. Mendez, a former youth pastor at a local church, had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who attended the same church. When re-interviewed by police investigators, she admitted to providing a false alibi for Mr. Mendez when questioned by law enforcement soon after the murder.