The Bonebreaker Case | Morbid

When the body of fourteen-year-old Chris Steiner was discovered floating in the Wisconsin River on July 10, 1994, it brought a heartbreaking end to the search for the boy who had mysteriously disappeared from his Baraboo, Wisconsin home a week earlier. Officially, the cause of death was drowning. His death was a tragic accident, and nothing more.
But was it? A year later, a harrowing 911 call from 14-year-old Thad Phillips would bring to light a monster in the boys' own neighborhood, one that would change the ruling in Chris Steiner's death and horrify the community forever.
References
Associated Press. 1997. Court awards $21M in torture case. October 14. Accessed April 6, 2023. apnews.com/article/5ded061aa2....
-. 1995. "Teen-age suspect in kidnapping-torture was taunted by peers about 1994 death." Wisconsin State Journal, August 11: 24.
Chickering, Pam. 1994. "Baraboo teen-ager missing." Baraboo News Republic, July 8: 1.
Clark, Anita. 1996. "Expert: Clark is a sadist, not insane." Wisconsin State Journal, September 18.
Dvorak, Rich, and Troy Laack. 1994. "Clue's sought in teen's death." Baraboo News Republic, July 13: 1.
-. 1994. "Missing youth's body found." Baraboo News Republic, July 12: 1.
Elbow, Steven. 1997. "Expert witness denied voice at Clark trial." Baraboo News Republic, November 7: 1.
-. 1996. "Formal charges filed in Steiner case." Portage Daily Register, September 26: 1.
Grunig, Tara. 1995. "Clark charged as adult in Phillips case." The Daily Register, September 8: 1.
Jaeger, Richard. 1995. "Autopsy discovers broken bones." Wisconsin State Journal, August 5: 1.
-. 1995. "Kidnapping-torture similar to year-old case." Wisconsin State Journal, August 3: 1.
-. 1995. "Teen questioned in '94 drowning." Wisconsin State Journal, August 4: 1D-2D.
O'Connell, Mike. 1995. "13-year-old boy kidnapped, tortured." Baraboo News Republic, August 2: 1.
-. 1996. "Clark's defense." Baraboo News Republic, September 17: 1.
-. 1996. "'Do you know Chris Steiner'." Baraboo News Republic, September 17: 1.
-. 1996. "Jurors bring swift decision; Clark faces 110 hard years." Baraboo News Republic, September 19: 1.
-. 1995. "Report confirms incident details." Baraboo News Republic, August 2: 1.
Seely, Ron. 1994. "Teen's parents left to wonder." Wisconsin State Journal, August 7: 21.
State of Wisconsin v. Joseph C. Clark. 1998. 97-3584-CR (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, September 3).
State of Wisconsin v. Joseph C. Clark. 1999. 98-2402-CR-NM (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, March 25).
Wisconsin State Journal. 1996. "Broken-bome assault case brings plea of no contest." Wisconsin State Journal, September 6.
-. 1996. "Shooting delays murder hearing ." Wisconsin State Journal, October 11.
-. 1997. "Teen killer who tortured victims gets life in prison." Wisconsin State Journal, November 21.
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[@crimsonmuse4076]

My parents both knew him. Ive lived in Baraboo my entire life. My mom lived down the road from him. And my father was a chaperone on one of the busses he rode to the skating rink. There were multiple times that he would try to get a kid alone from there, but my dad always intervened. Dad and mom said that he unnerved them. They said that they didn't know exactly what he was doing, but there was something in his eyes. My parents met at the same skating rink my dad was chaperoning him to. He was there. I was conceived during the fallout of all this. Everyone here is sure that he was responsible for 2 deaths and the assault. Baraboo has some weird stuff.. I have another local case you might wanna look into. Please, lemme know if you want it. I hope you might have better luck researching it than I did. Thank you for covering this case! It seems to get swept under the rug and forgotten more often than not.

[@isabellewhite6887]

i would love to hear about the other case you mentioned!!!

[@aNaturalist]

Who was the 2nd death he was responsible for? I was waiting for the mention of who else he paralyzed on this video.

[@lorettasearcy1471]

Is that the case where some boys went missing?

[@rachelrobey4958]

There are many child murders in baraboo area in the 90s unfortunately I was close to many this was my childhood growing up like many others in the area.

[@BriMonies]

Sauk is like sock. This case was f*d. terrifying that people like this exist.

[@hazeltifiaeh6196]

I don't know how much they were able to do back in the 90s but now a days you can tell if a person was dead before they entered the water.

[@mari97216]

They knew back then as well.

[@sarahs5340]

Fetal Alcohol can really effect the brain, and additional brain injuries.

[@momfortruth1212]

Great episode, Ash and Alaina!! ✌🏾♥️😊🌈🌸🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️

[@sweetox_9690]

“He stole gym socks from his house? Oh that’s on another level!” I spit out my water at that. Ummmm….That would be the least of my concerns with this guy. I love you girls you crack me up 😂

[@lorettasearcy1471]

His mom even said that Joe couldn't sneak out because he would have to go through her room.

[@MoonDragon1]

I am new to your podcast so catching up. Wow I was shocked to see this case. I lived in the area on the street of the killer but the opposite end of the area. It’s a long road. It’s so creepy.

[@user-rl3ov4pt4m]

As a city mom this is what keeps me from wanting my kids who desperately want to live in the suburbs not to go.

[@yeahB]

You know that bad things happen in cities, too? But I also worry a little bit when my teenage son wants to walk home alone with some friends over some fields at night time after a party because you never know who could take advantage over the situation, and may it be one of his friends. But I also want him to have some fun. We can’t protect our children from everything in life

[@zo_471]

I think he still would’ve committed the crimes if he lived in the city

[@nickzeallear4974]

Close Encounters of a Third kind is a banger… but yeah dude is messed up

[@jenniferoverton6988]

My question is where was his Joe Clark's parents. While he was Torturing Thad for I think you guys said 3 days?

[@MoonDragon1]

Portage visiting their daughter. I lived down on the same county road on the opposite side of town as the killer. Portage is only 30 min away. It was so scary. The killer looked at my brother before and he said he is creepy. I knew Thad the survivor.

[@socaldeb]

This is one uniquely horrible case.

[@momfortruth1212]

Faribault is pronounced FariBO…. Just FYI ✌🏾♥️😊🌈🌸🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️

[@rachelrobey4958]

I lived this personally close with the family of the victims this was my child hood growing up. Among many other child hood friends murdered in the baraboo area.

[@FancyTyus]

I can't imagine the fear I'm so sorry

[@patriciabarrois3344]

Someone took that one Kathy Bates movie way to seriously.

[@cassandranicole3754]

This one was hard to listen to, and I usually like gore-y stuff.

[@barbarawiech2191]

I think I've seen a documentary on this.

[@katyrye]

Ive seen " children shouldn't play with Dead things" its stupid

[@AfterDark6]

Could y’all possibly start adding a time stamp to where the case actually starts in the podcast. When help a lot. Thanksss

[@carmengarza9114]

I love you guys... but I'm surprised you didn't look Thad Up... he's definitely deceased.

[@katyrye]

He's alive

[@katyrye]

As of April 2023 he was in the news

[@rachelrobey4958]

He is very much alive!

[@LyricalXilence]

Mansplaining?! Oh great this is a feminist podcast.

[@jacobwcrosby]

I feel they are pronouncing it sowk, instead of closer to sock. Maybe sawk.