What began as a routine attempt to locate a parentally abducted three-year-old child would expose something far more horrifying inside a home in Portage, Wisconsin.

When officers arrived at 304 West Oneida Street, nearly everyone inside lied about who they were. Then, at the police station, one woman revealed that officers had unknowingly left someone behind: an severely injured 11-year-old boy hiding inside an upstairs closet.

But the child wasn’t the only secret concealed within the house. Freshly disturbed soil and newly planted flowers in the backyard would lead investigators to an even darker discovery.

In Part 1 of the Portage House of Horrors, we follow the investigation from the officers’ first knock on the door through the rescue of A.C.G., the discovery of Tammie Garlin’s body, and the multistate search for Michael Sisk.

Content warning: This episode discusses severe child abuse, torture, domestic violence, and murder. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

SOURCES:

• Columbia County Circuit Court records obtained through the Columbia County Clerk of Courts
• A personal interview with retired Portage Police Detective Mark Hahn
• “House of Horrors,” published by Milwaukee Magazine on March 5, 2008
• This case was recommended to Dark Matter Moms by retired Portage Police Detective Daniel Pionke

🎙️ Dark Matter Moms
🖤 A Wisconsin true-crime podcast

On February 15, 1974, 25-year-old Mary Kathlene Schlais was hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago to attend an art show.

She never made it.

Mary's body was discovered along a rural road in Dunn County, Wisconsin. Despite an eyewitness, physical evidence, and decades of investigation, her killer remained unidentified for 50 years.

Then, modern DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy gave new life to a piece of evidence preserved since 1974: a stocking cap containing hair.

That evidence eventually led investigators to Jon Keith Miller.

Join us on Dark Matter Moms as we tell the story of Mary Schlais, the investigation that spanned generations, and the evidence that finally helped reveal the man responsible more than five decades later.

Sources:
CBS News Minnesota
Billy Lund, Crime Reporter — YouTube
Dunn County Sheriff’s Office / Dunn County Crime Stoppers

On April 20, 2019, firefighters responding to a house fire in Montello, Wisconsin, discovered the burned body of 43-year-old Daniel Gilmartin.

Hours before his death, Daniel told friends—and posted publicly—that his ex-girlfriend, Frances Rittmann, had attempted to set fire to a couch inside his detached garage. When investigators questioned Frances, her version of events began to change. Internet searches, witness accounts, physical evidence, and her own statements would ultimately reveal what happened inside Daniel’s home.

In this episode, we examine Daniel’s final hours, Frances’s shifting explanations, and the evidence that led to her guilty pleas and 45-year prison sentence.

This episode includes audio excerpts from Frances Rittmann’s recorded police interrogations.

Source: Official court records obtained from the Marquette County Clerk of Courts.

⚠️ Listener discretion is advised. This episode discusses domestic violence, suicide, fatal fire, and other disturbing subject matter.