A mother's search for a missing daughter

Rob Stafford Correspondent • Profile

MILWAUKEE - At 5 a.m., October 10, 2006 on one of the meanest  streets in the city of Milwaukee, Karren Kraemer, a mother of five from the suburbs is all alone, struggling in the dark and the cold.

Karren Kraemer, Becky's mother: Whoever would think that a mother would have to do anything like that?

It’s a mother’s desperate quest to find out what happened to her daughter.

Karren Kraemer: I should feel fear but I don’t.  I feel like the answers are there.  Every place you go, you look. You drive past a house and you wonder could that be the place...

Where is she? Could the answer lie in a house?  In a closet? Behind cobwebs?  Or could the answer be buried here in this cemetery? Or somewhere along these railroad tracks? Karren is following the trail anywhere it leads to find her daughter.

Rob Stafford, Dateline correspondent: If you see a young woman walking down the street, do do you look over?

Karren Kraemer: Uh-huh (affirms).  Absolutely. Especially if she’s blonde.

Karren’s desperate search is for her daughter Becky Marzo. She’d be 26 years old now, but still her mother’s little girl.

Karren Kraemer: Loved to be a center of attention. And she always laughed. Everything was funny.

But as a young child Becky was always sick, she had infections, sinus problems, and over 18 surgeries involving her ears.

Karren Kraemer:  When she was in school she always had to sit up close to the teacher.  So she could hear what was going on.  She had a hearing impairment.

Stafford: So Becky’s a girl that mom worries about from day one?

Karren Kraemer: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Inspite of her hearing loss, Becky always loved music. In high school, she was in the band and the group took a trip to New York City where she saw homeless people for the first time.

Karren Kraemer: I was proud of her. She gave away her lunch.  There were 20 kids that went on this part of the trip to Central Park.  And she made everybody give up their lunches.                   

Stafford: So if Becky sees someone in need, she’s determined to help that person?

Karren Kraemer: Yeah, absolutely.

Becky married briefly and when the marriage failed she came home to live with her family. 

Stafford: You two had a pretty special bond.  Can you talk about that a little bit?

David Kraemer, Becky's father: Well, she was my daughter. We did things together.  We hunted together. 

Stafford: (laughing) I’m shocked.  She deer hunting or what?

David Kraemer: Yup, she deer hunted.

Stafford: Did she like it or she was just doing that because you?

David Kraemer: She did it for a couple of years to keep me happy.

But the happy family life ended when she became involved with a man 11 years older and moved in with him in downtown Milwaukee. Her parents say he always refused to come to their home and meet them.  His name was Carl Rogers, Jr.

David Kraemer: —we didn’t know a lot about him.  And Becky kind of changed. She wasn’t the same.  She was distant. And at the time we didn’t know why.

Then one time she came home, her parents were shocked.

David Kraemer: She was bruised.  She had a broken nose.  She had some cuts and stuff. Basically looked abused.

Stafford: That must have been difficult for you as a dad. Tell me about that.

David Kraemer: I kind of at the time I had given her an ultimatum. And said, "What you need to do is you need to get a restraining order, put a stop to this."

He says Becky admitted to being abused  and to get a restraining order, but when she did not show up for a hearing, the case was dismissed and she was back  with  the man she says abused her. According to her parents, a fateful move that would have terrible consequence.

David Kraemer: I was very upset and angry.  And I guess the only thing I could do is she’s an adult was try and persuade her to stay away from him.  And I think he had control over her.

Karren Kraemer: My husband’s talking to her and I’m talking to her and we’re telling her. And you know we’re telling her, “He’s gonna kill you.  You know, this isn’t just something you see on TV.  This happens in real life.”

But Becky kept going back to Carl. And finally her parents couldn’t take it anymore. The breaking point was a call in April 2003. Becky phoned her mother after her car broke down. According to Karren, Becky felt she needed her  mother to come get her. That very morning, she says Carl had beaten Becky  once again.

Karren Kraemer: I said, “No.”  We decided we were gonna use tough love.         

They told Becky they wouldn’t come get her unless she’d leave Carl completely and come home and live with them..

David Kraemer: I would hope it bring her back home and she’d quit hanging around with him.

But Karen says it only made Becky feel they didn’t love her.

Stafford: How hard was it for you to say “no”?

Karren Kraemer: Horrible.  It was horrible.  I was crying.  I was trying to explain to her that it’s killing us to see her like this.  And to know that she’s gonna keep going back.

Stafford: How many times have you thought about that phone call?

Karren Kraemer: Oh my God, every day of my life.  It eats me up. People say, “You can’t blame yourself.”  But as a parent, we all say and do things thinking it’s gonna be for the best. It’s gonna help your kid. And that was the wrong decision I made.  It didn’t help her.

Becky hung up on her, broke off all contact with her family and four days later took off.

Karren Kraemer: So she not only ran from him, but I forced her to run from me. So she was abandoned that’s how she felt and I understand that. 

According to Karen,  the boyfriend was desperate — calling and calling trying to find her. So was Karen. She called the FBI. They found Becky in Florida, but she still did not want to deal with her parents. And asked her mother to leave her alone.

Stafford: What do you want her to know?

David Kraemer: I want her to know I love her.  And I wish it could have been different.

Becky stayed in Florida for six weeks and then came back to Milwaukee and to her parents’ dismay moved back in with Carl. Alarmed, Karen called Becky’s cell everyday but could only get her voicemail.

Stafford: Tell me about the messages you’re leaving.

Karren Kraemer: I kept her informed of everything that was happening in our lives. Her sister got pregnant and had a baby.  We called and told her about that.  Everything....

Stafford: Is there anyway Becky would not respond to her sister having a child?

Karren Kraemer: No, are you kidding. She would give anything to see Katie’s baby and to be a part of that.  Because that’s who she was.  She loved her brothers and sisters. And every day I was telling her how sorry I was. And that I needed her to come back in my life.    And she would have responded to that. Because that’s who she was.  You know? She wouldn’t have wanted me to hurt every day…

After two months, Karren was convinced Becky was not returning her calls for a reason, that something terrible had happened.

Karren Kraemer: I believe 110  percent that she was murdered.

Stafford: And do you have a suspect?

Karren Kraemer: Yep. 

Stafford: And who is it?

Karren Kraemer: Her boyfriend.  Carl Rogers the second.  That’s who it is. 

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