Richard Engberg described feeding, cleaning and monitoring his partner, while prosecutors allege his failure to seek timely medical help amounted to reckless abuse.
STURGEON BAY, Wis. — Richard C. Engberg told investigators he was trying to care for the 79-year-old woman with whom he had lived for years as her health deteriorated. Prosecutors have drawn a sharply different conclusion, charging the 83-year-old Door County man with reckless abuse after she was found gravely ill outside their home and later died.
The divide between Engberg’s description of caregiving and the conditions emergency workers reported finding is at the core of the criminal complaint. Engberg said he brought the woman food and water, cleaned her and tried to make her comfortable as she stayed near the porch. Paramedics, however, encountered a woman with extensive untreated wounds who could barely communicate and appeared to have been outside for more than a week. Prosecutors allege that leaving her in that condition without professional medical attention crossed the line from inadequate care into criminally reckless abuse of an individual at risk.
Engberg and the woman had lived together for roughly nine years, according to the account he gave authorities. Reports describe her as his girlfriend or domestic partner, while Engberg reportedly characterized their arrangement as living together as friends. Residents in Ellison Bay told WLUK that both had been active in the community and that they were stunned by the death. Those residents said they were not aware of major health problems involving the woman or of serious trouble between her and Engberg before emergency crews arrived at the home in September.
The woman’s decline appears to have unfolded over several weeks, based largely on statements Engberg made to investigators. He said she first developed memory problems and began driving erratically. He later described what he believed was a seizure-like episode in which she twitched and spoke strangely. He said bruising and blistering followed. None of the public reports indicates that she was evaluated by a doctor at that point. Instead, Engberg told authorities that the woman wanted to wait and see whether her health would improve and did not want to go to a hospital.
Her location outside the home later became one of the most troubling elements of the complaint. Engberg said the woman stayed near the front porch because she found the area comfortable and liked the fresh air. He told investigators that touching or moving her caused her to cry out in pain, and he said she resisted being moved. At some point, according to his account, she ended up lying on the ground near the porch. Engberg said he did not know precisely when she fell from the porch area, but he acknowledged that she remained outside for more than a week and possibly up to two weeks.
During that period, Engberg said, he continued bringing her what she would accept. He described yogurt and ice cream as among the limited foods she would eat and said he offered water until she began refusing it. He told authorities that he wiped her body down and occasionally used a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle set to a light spray to rinse or moisten her. According to the complaint, he said the woman appeared relieved by the water. Those claims are Engberg’s description of his conduct; they do not establish that the measures were medically appropriate or that the woman was capable of making informed decisions about refusing treatment.
The deterioration continued until the woman was no longer responding to him, Engberg said. He also reported speaking with his brother as the crisis worsened and said the brother told him to contact emergency services immediately. Engberg ultimately called 911 on Sept. 7. When paramedics arrived, they found the woman lying on her side near the porch and covered by a large comforter. She was barely responsive, had numerous open wounds and showed signs of infestation in some of those wounds. Responders said movement caused her intense pain as they worked to treat and transport her.
The rescue led to an air transfer from Door County to Green Bay. After being removed from the property, the woman was transported to the Ephraim-Gibraltar Airport, where Eagle III took her to HSHS St. Vincent Hospital. She died Sept. 10. Her name has not been released in the criminal complaint. Public reports have not identified a separate official finding that Engberg intentionally tried to injure her. The felony allegation instead rests on recklessness: that the circumstances were so dangerous and the delay in seeking adequate care so serious that criminal responsibility may attach to what prosecutors characterize as abuse.
Investigators were also confronted with questions about Engberg’s own abilities. Paramedics described him as cooperative and forthcoming but reportedly questioned whether he could adequately care for himself, much less a medically vulnerable partner. A sheriff’s investigator later expressed doubt that Engberg understood his Miranda rights when officers attempted to explain them. Those observations do not resolve the abuse charge, but they created a second legal question about whether Engberg presently has the mental capacity required to participate in court proceedings.
Engberg was arrested Sept. 9 and charged with recklessly subjecting an individual at risk to abuse causing death, a Class C felony. He appeared in Door County Circuit Court on Sept. 21, where his defense asked for a competency evaluation. Judge David Weber approved the request. Competency in this setting concerns the defendant’s present ability to understand the criminal case and assist counsel. It is not a ruling on whether Engberg was mentally impaired when the woman became ill, nor is it a finding that he is guilty or not guilty of the charged offense.
The first court-ordered evaluation did not end that dispute. At an Oct. 29 proceeding, attorney Carrie LaPlant, appearing for public defender Shannon Viel, told Weber that Viel challenged the report’s findings and wanted an independent assessment. District Attorney Colleen Nordin said she accepted the court-ordered evaluation. With the prosecution offering no objection to additional time, Weber gave the defense about 45 days to locate another examiner. The judge set a Dec. 17 status conference, when the parties are expected to report on the second evaluation and address the timing of a formal competency determination.
If the abuse case eventually proceeds, the fact-finding process will have to distinguish between several different issues now contained in the complaint: what the woman’s medical condition was during the weeks before Sept. 7, how capable she was of refusing care, what Engberg understood about the danger, what assistance he actually provided and when a reasonable response should have included professional treatment. Engberg’s statements provide one account, while the emergency workers’ observations describe the condition they encountered after the prolonged decline. None of those disputed questions has yet been resolved at trial.
The potential consequences are substantial. Wisconsin law classifies the charged offense as a Class C felony, and that felony category carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, a $100,000 fine or both. Those figures are statutory maximums, not a prediction of what will happen in Engberg’s case. Before questions of trial or punishment can be reached, the competency dispute must be addressed. Engberg remains in custody on the pending charge and is presumed innocent unless the state proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
For now, the proceeding is paused at that threshold issue. The woman remains unidentified in the publicly reported complaint, and no trial date has been announced. Engberg’s defense is pursuing another psychiatric opinion after contesting the first evaluation, while prosecutors have accepted the original report. The Door County court’s next confirmed step is the Dec. 17 status conference, where Weber is expected to determine how the unresolved competency question will move forward.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 7, 2026.