MILWAUKEE — Neighbors on Milwaukee’s south side are mourning a 64-year-old woman who police said was killed when someone struck her in the head with a stone Sunday afternoon.
Milwaukee police said officers responded around 2 p.m. to the 2200 block of West Ramsey Avenue for a report of a battery. Officers taped off the street and were seen going in and out of a home on the block.
Police said someone hit the woman in the head with a stone, causing blunt force trauma that led to her death.
Watch: 64-year-old Milwaukee woman dead after person hits her in head with rock
The 64-year-old was identified as Carrie Zettel by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Neighbors and longtime friends at the scene described her as generous, loyal, and devoted to her friends and family.
“She was amazing,” said family friend Loretta Moyer, through tears. “Would give you the shirt off your back. She would be there to help you no matter what.”
Moyer said the woman had been like family to her.
“Like another mom to me,” Moyer said. “She would take my daughter to work, be there for Thanksgiving, Christmas — always us.”
Police said a 29-year-old woman was taken into custody. Moyer and her mother, Susan Henderson Hoffmann, said they were told the person taken into custody was the woman’s daughter.
“I heard the sirens stop at her house and came around the corner, and I knew something was wrong,” Henderson Hoffmann said.
“The officers told me right out that it happened in the backyard and she beat her mother to death with a rock.”
Both women said the woman’s daughter had faced mental health struggles.
Moyer said she received a voicemail from the woman around 4 a.m. Sunday, saying her daughter was trying to get into her house.
“Pounding on the doors, the windows, and calling 911,” the woman said in the message. “The police came, and caught her under a tarp, and she ran away.”
Police said the case will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office for review.
“She was a good person. She didn’t deserve this. She was a good mother; she has a son, a daughter, and grandchildren. She deserved so much better,” Henderson-Hoffmann said.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information can contact Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360 or remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-TIPS or using P3 Tips.
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