VIROQUA, Wis. — A Middleton man took his own life after being stopped by a State Patrol officer driving west on U.S. Highway 14 just inside the Vernon County line. James D. Pabst, age 25, had been wanted for the shooting death of his parents overnight in the west Madison suburb of Middelton. Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson said the son had made it 80 miles from Middleton when a State Patrol trooper stopped his car. This was about 4:30 p.m. south of Viroqua near Offerdahl Road. The trooper walked to the vehicle but, he said, the driver wouldn’t lower the window. Because the situation was high-risk, the trooper called for back-up. Pabst was ordered several times by megaphone to get out of the car. After an hour of no response, officers approached the vehicle and found Pabst dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Family tragedy
Informed of his suicide, Pabst’s girlfriend, Sienna Lewis said he suffered mental illness. The couple had a dUgter born in March. Said Sienna Lewis: “I just really want Juliette, our baby, to remember him for who his friends said that he was and those happy times that we did get to have.”