Kevin Lychwick’s murder trial opened in Waukesha with the 63-year-old defendant representing himself and struggling to get through his first remarks to the jury before repeated objections cut him off. He is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the death of Carlos Maldonado.
Lychwick told jurors, “I am not a killer” and “I am not guilty of this crime,” as he tried to explain why he says he had no motive to harm his neighbor. He also told them, “I feel sorry for my poor neighbor, but I did not know him well enough to have any animus against him, and I have never killed anyone in my life,” adding, “The largest warm-blooded animal I ever killed was a skunk that walked in front of my car by accident years ago.”
The case centers on Maldonado, who was 55 and last seen alive on April 14, 2024. His daughter reported him missing days later after she could not reach him. Months after he disappeared, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex where both men lived found a blue tarp in the woods on Oct. 30, 2024, and it covered Maldonado’s decomposing remains.
A medical examiner said Maldonado had been shot twice, once in the torso and once in the center of the face. Two projectiles were recovered with his body. Prosecutors said those projectiles matched ballistics from a 1939 Luger firearm found in the trunk of Lychwick’s car after he was stopped for speeding.
Investigators also described trail camera video from the woods showing Lychwick in the area on April 29, 2024, carrying what they said was a white trash bag and appearing to look into apartment windows as though checking whether someone was watching him. They said the video also appears to show him carrying a tool of some sort. A search of his home allegedly turned up handwritten notes listing several operations, including one titled Operation Slop Shop with Maldonado’s name beneath it and a note identifying him as a threat.
That evidence sits against Lychwick’s insistence that the searches were illegal. Judge David Maas told him the court had already ruled the searches valid and constitutional and would not allow arguments to the contrary. With the jury now hearing competing versions of the same evidence, the next phase of the case will turn on whether prosecutors can persuade them that the physical findings, the notes and the video tie Lychwick to Maldonado’s killing.
