5 chilling details about Rhys Pocan's murder

Rhys Pocan was a Native American woman who mysteriously disappeared while walking around National Avenue in the south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. On the night of August 10, 1989, Rhys left her residence in Black Water Falls and never returned.

The authorities initially took it as a case of abduction until weeks later, they encountered an unexpected discovery that shook the entire state of Wisconsin. The complete story behind the mysterious disappearance of Rhys Pocan is the subject of Crime Jukie's podcast titled WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1.

A brief description of the podcast episode reads:

"In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. But while we were in the field, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of murders with similarities to Rhys’ that were just too blatant to ignore. So, we spent the next three years working with local and federal law enforcement to try and get to the bottom of it."

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5 key details about the disappearance of Rhys Pocan

1) Rhys Pocan was abducted from a road in Milwaukee's south side

Rhys disappeared while walking on the National Avenue Lane in Milwaukee (Image via Pexels)

As per a TMJ4 article published on November 9, 2023, on the night of August 10, 1989, Rhys Pocan was abducted while walking along National Avenue on the south side of the city of Milwaukee. She was last seen near the Black River Falls area, the neighborhood where she used to live.

When the case was reopened in 2017, Sheboygan County Sheriff's Detective Nathan Hatch said that it was very much possible that Rhys knew her abductors already. However, the motive for the abduction is still unknown.

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2) Rhys Pocan was murdered, and her body was dismembered

Rhys' dismembered body pieces were found in a hunting ground (Image via Pexels)

As per a WEAU 13 News article published on February 17, 2025, weeks after Rhys Pocan's disappearance, investigators failed to find her. However, the investigators confirmed that she had been murdered when local hunters found her dismembered body parts.

As per the TMJ4 article, investigators went in search of her remaining body parts. It said:

“Investigators were hoping dogs might track down the body’s head and hands, which were missing when the remains were found.”

Reportedly, some local hunters discovered the head and hands belonging to Rhys Pocan at a public hunting ground named Vernon Marsh in Waukesha County. Eventually, the torso of Rhys was retrieved in another public hunting ground named Nichol's Creek, located in Sheboygan County.

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3) Rhys Pocan left her eight-year-old daughter Charlee at home before she disappeared

Rhys' daughter Charlee saw her mother disappear after taking on a bike (Image via Pexels)

In the TMJ 4 article, Charlee (Rhys Pocan's daughter) recalls her experience of the night her mother disappeared. She recalled her mother getting on the bike that night from their residence in Black Walls Falls.

That was the last time she saw her mother ever again. Charlee reported to TMJ4, that she still has the postcard her mother wrote to her before her death. In the postcard, Rhys wrote:

"‘I was thinking of you and thought I'd send a card to say how much I love you and miss you. Love, mom.’”

On her mother's disappearance, Charlee said:

"It was really hard for my family,” Charlee said. “So many questions. What did she do to deserve this?"

Charlee added that the situation was so sudden, horrific, and violent, that she was unable to even think of a single person who could have committed the crime.

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4) The case of Rhys Pocan's disappearance went cold for more than 3 decades

Detective Nathan Hatch from Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office restarted the investigation for Rhys' disappearance in 2017 (Image via Pexels)

As reported by TMJ 4, the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office took up the investigation for Rhys' case. Though they discovered the dismembered body parts of the victim, the authorities were unable to track down the killer. When an anonymous 911 call informed them about finding the torso, they hoped to find the rest of the victim's body.

They used police dogs to track down other body parts but failed until local hunters found them. As reported by TMJ4, one of the reporters said:

“Investigators were hoping dogs might track down the body’s head and hands, which were missing when the remains were found.”

For months, authorities weren't able to find any more concrete evidence that could lead them to the killer. Eventually, it turned into a cold case until 2017, when Detective Nathan Hatch from Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office was reassigned the case.

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5) Detective Nathan Hatch believes the murderer of Rhys Pocan is still alive

Detective Nathan Hatch believes that the murderer of Rhys is still alive and can still be discovered (Image via Pexels)

As reported by TMJ4 News, Detective Nathan Hatch has taken a bunch of interviews with people who were present around the region during the 1980s. Detective Hatch said that the case has started to take a pace. In the TMJ4 article, he said:

"In the last year and a half the case has started to heat up.”

In the article, Nathan added:

“This year alone we’ve had 35 interviews which have taken us to Gays Mills, Black River Falls, Kohler, Green Bay, Fond du Lac, East Troy, Milwaukee, Plymouth, etc."

Detective Nathan Hatch still hopes to solve the case and believes that the murderer is still alive.

“Out of all the suspects that we have currently developed, all of them are still alive at this point," Detective Nathan said to the TMJ4 reporters.

With the evidence that is still preserved from that time, Detective Hatch is using rigorous interrogation and modern advancements in forensic science. Both Shebogyan Countywide Crime Stoppers and the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department still invite any additional information that could prove important in solving the case.

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Check our other articles to learn details about more cases on the Crime Junkie podcast.