62-year-old woman fatally stabbed in apartment near 21st and Pierce, man in custody

MILWAUKEE — A 62-year-old woman is dead after Milwaukee police said she was stabbed to death Tuesday morning by 21st and Pierce Street. A man is now in custody.

As Precious LaPlante stepped outside her apartment at Knitting Factory Lofts Tuesday, she came across a familiar scene. Crime tape surrounded the area by the elevator, and police cars sat outside.

LaPlante said she knew right away what had happened.

“It’s too much. It brings back a lot of memories,” LaPlante said. “I knew it was a homicide and there was no thinking I’ve been through this before.”

Her son was murdered back in April.

“That’s too fresh on my mind already. I don’t want to relive it going through this again,” LaPlante said.

Milwaukee police said around 10:30 a.m. they found a 62-year-old woman dead in one of the apartments. Investigators said she was stabbed to death, and they arrested a 26-year-old man on the scene.

Police remained at the apartment complex all day, collecting as much evidence as they could. TMJ4 News also caught police taking photos inside a unit on the second floor.

“Pretty much every day there’s something like this around in this area,” LaPlante said.

LaPlante moved in about a year ago, and one month later in July 2019, a 46-year-old man was shot and killed in the back of the building.

Now after this most recent death, LaPlante said she’s ready to move somewhere else.

“This is just putting confirmation on it,” LaPlante said.

Police have yet to release the names of the woman who died or the suspect. Charges will be passed along to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the coming days.

Police said this marked the 124th homicide this year in Milwaukee, double the number of homicides at the same time last year. In 2019 by this year there had been 62 homicides.

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