UPDATED Thursday, July 22, 2010 --- 1:03 p.m.

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) -- A Dane County man is the third person convicted in an alleged scheme to dig up a dead woman so his brother could have sex with the body.

A Grant County court official says a jury deliberated about an hour Thursday before finding 24-year-old Alexander C. Grunke of Mount Horeb guilty of third-degree sexual assault.

He was previously convicted on related charges of theft and criminal damage to a cemetery.

Authorities say he, his brother and another 23-year-old went to a Cassville cemetery in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman killed a week earlier in a motorcycle crash. The 23-year-old told investigators Grunke's brother wanted to have sex with the body.

Grunke's attorney declined to comment until she could follow up with her client.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Thursday, July 22, 2010 --- 12:15 p.m.

Release from Grant County Sheriff’s Department:

On 7/22/10 Alexander Caleb Grunke (24) of Verona was found guilty by a Grant County Jury of Party to the Crime of Attempted 3rd degree sexual assault in the 09/02/06 incident at the St. Charles Cemetery in Cassville Township where Grunke, his brother Nick and Dustin Radke where caught digging up the grave of Laura Tennessen so that Nick could have sexual intercourse with her. Both Nick Grunke and Dustin Radke had been previously convicted.

The Court ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be conducted by the Department of Corrections to be done by 09/02/10 at which time a sentencing date will be scheduled.

Grunke remains free on bail pending a sentencing hearing.

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UPDATED Tuesday, July 21, 2009 --- 4:50 p.m.

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) -- Jurors deliberated for 40 minutes before finding Nicholas Grunke guilty on all counts in an alleged scheme to dig up a dead woman and have sex with the body.

Grunke, 23, was found guilty Tuesday of attempted criminal damage to a cemetery, attempted misdemeanor theft and attempted third-degree sexual assault.

Authorities allege that Grunke, his twin brother, Alexander Grunke, and 23-year-old Dustin Radke went to a Cassville cemetery in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman killed the week before in a motorcycle crash. Radke told investigators that Nicholas Grunke wanted to have sex with the body.

The defense argued that Nicholas Grunke was shy, had no girlfriends and only wanted to wanted to pose the woman in a "non-sexual way."

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Monday, July 20, 2009 --- 3:20 p.m.

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) -- An attorney for a 23-year-old man accused of trying to dig up a dead woman in Cassville to have sex with her says his client only wanted to wanted to pose her in a "non-sexual way."

In opening statements, defense attorney Suzanne Edwards described Nicholas Grunke as a shy virgin who longed to have a girlfriend. When a 20-year-old woman died in a 2006 motorcycle crash, Edwards says Grunke wanted to "set up a little fairy-tale scenario."

Grunke is accused of attempted third-degree sexual assault, attempted criminal damage to a cemetery and attempted misdemeanor theft.

Prosecutor Tony Pozorski argued that Grunke intended to have sex with the body.

Pozorski argued that Grunke, his twin brother Alexander, and friend Dustin Radke were involved in the alleged scheme. The prosecutor says a van found near the scene contained shovels, a wrecking bar and a box of condoms.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 --- 10:25 a.m.

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) -- The trial of a man accused of trying to dig up a grave in Cassville to have sex with a dead woman has ended in a mistrial.

Jurors found 23-year-old Alex Grunke guilty of criminal damage to a cemetery and attempted misdemeanor theft but deadlocked on attempted third-degree sexual assault. Grant County Circuit Court Judge George Curry called a mistrial late Tuesday night.

Authorities say Grunke, his twin Nicholas Grunke and 22-year-old Dustin Radke went to a Cassville cemetery in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman killed the week before in a motorcycle crash. Radke told investigators Nicholas Grunke wanted to have sex with the body.

Assistant District Attorney Tony Pozorski says he will retry the case.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Wednesday, January 7, 2009 ---- 7:10 a.m.

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) -- Three men accused of trying to dig up a woman's body in a Cassville cemetery so one of them could have sex with it contend they were illegally arrested.

Lawyers tried to make that case Tuesday in Grant County Circuit Court. The three face charges of attempted third-degree sexual assault, attempted theft and attempted criminal damage to a cemetery.

The lawyer for 23-year-old Alexander Grunke said Police Chief Brent McDonald did not have probable cause to arrest him while checking on an unoccupied vehicle near St. Charles Cemetery the night of Sept. 2, 2006.

Lawyers for Grunke's twin brother Nicholas and 22-year-old Dustin Radke said that meant their arrests were illegal too.

But the prosecutor said the arrests were legal.

The judge made no immediate ruling.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Click HERE to read previous story on Wisconsin Supreme Court Decision regarding this case

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Story originally posted September 5, 2006 --- 6:30 p.m.

The men face charges of attempted misdemeanor theft and attempted third degree sexual assault.

Investigators say the three men went to this cemetery in Cassville Saturday night to dig up the grave of Laura Tennessen.

The nursing assistant died in a motorcycle accident in Cassville, not far from where's she's buried.

A criminal complaint against the men says an officer responded to the intersection of Wall and East Bluff Streets to investigate a suspicious vehicle.

The officer then questioned Alex Grunke, who was walking toward the vehicle, dressed in black and sweating, according to the complaint.

Police say they learned from Grunke that he and two others were at the cemetery to uncover Tennessen's body until a car prompted them to flee.

Officers arrived at the graveyard to find the top of the vault exposed.
Also in the complaint, friend Dustin Radke admits to helping the brothers so Nicholas Grunke could have sex with the woman near the Grunke home in Ridgway.

The family's priest Father John Norder says, "We were up here last night, and I re-blessed the grave, had prayer service for them."

Father Norder presided over Laura's funeral service last week. She rests next to her brother, who also died in a traffic crash, ten years ago.

Investigators do not believe the men knew Tennessen. Prosecutors say one of the suspects, Dustin Radke has a prior record.

They're scheduled back in court for a preliminary hearing in ten days.