Page 2 - Tim Wicks News Today

>> it turns out the man impersonating timothy wick was someone police knew very well. his real name was dennis gaede. >> so the big question is, where is timothy wicks and what happened to him? >> we dont know where to go. so we figure what we need to do is we got to find dennis. >> at this point, dennis gaede, posing as tim wicks, was scheduled to be questioned by fargo detective tammy lynx about allegations of stealing from his employers. >> well, he doesnt show up for the interview. were real...

On the run with her new husband, dennis gaede. she arranged to leave her teenage daughter with her ex-husband, the daughters biological father, and take 3-year-old joshua, who had a different dad, with her to fargo. >> she is not supposed to leave the state with her little boy without working things out with joshuas father ahead of time, but for a while there, she was bringing him back for his visitation from north dakota, without anybody knowing they were in north dakota. >> but dennis gaede we...

I couldnt figure out what -- what was happening because, you know, i was just coming out of a sleep, and didnt hear anything. he was like, come downstairs. and we went downstairs, and tims lying on the kitchen floor. there was no signs of blood or anything. i said, what did you do? party him out? i thought he passed out. he was, like, snoring. and he said, "no, i shot him." >> "i shot him"? >> "i shot him." i said, what do you mean, you shot him? hes snoring. hes like, i shot him. and then denni...

To let her know what he was going do with the apartment, and he left a phone number with her saying if you need me for some reason, heres a phone number. >> though the cell phone number was eventually traced to fargo, north dakota, it did not lead to tim wicks. but when schoonover called the fargo police department he got a lucky break. tim wicks was a name they already knew, same birthday, same social security number, except in fargo, north dakota, timothy wicks was not known for his drumming. ...

I dont know. when youre in a situation like that, you just -- you dont think clearly. >> right after tim wicks was killed, when your husband goes to get the backhoe to bury the body, you could have grabbed your son and left then. why not? >> where was i going to go? >> back to milwaukee, back to your mom. >> i think i was just in a state of shock then. i just closed up. i totally clammed up. >> though dennis gaede went to prison for embezzlement and diane fruge spent six months in jail for viola...

A petty check account. with some investigating by gene and myself, we found that they were not sent to that company. they were, indeed, deposited to an account belonging to tim wicks. >> what are you thinking of tim wicks now? >> im thinking he took us for a ride. >> not only that it turns out wicks had begin himself health insurance and a christmas bonus he was not entitled to. that was when the bosses decided to fight back with a camera. >> i said, by the way, were doing an employee bulletin b...

>> hes to show up at 1:00. >> correct. >> what happens at 1:00? >> nothing. he didnt show up. coming up -- the fargo businessman who hired tim wicks to be his accountant offers a tantalizing clue. >> i took him out one night to a club where they had a jam night going on and tim got up and played. he could keep a beat, i guess. [ male announcer ] meet lafayette. we asked him to be part of an experiment to prove that febreze air effects can eliminate tough cooking odors. [ moderator ] take a dee...

>> what was the first sign that something was off? >> like a $20 petty cash check, where did it go? where are the receipts? just -- just some real minor things. >> how did he react? >> yeah, not a problem. no problem at all. >> a week later he didnt have all of the answers, so he was given a little more time until just after the christmas holidays 2001. but once christmas was over and it was time to come back to work, tim wicks was a no-show. >> i thought something might have happened. i was con...

To be tim wicks is really dennis gaede. a search of wicks apartment turns up a tax return that is signed at the bottom by the preparer, dennis gaede. >> my gut is telling me that tim is dead, but we cant prove it, we dont have a body, we dont know. >> then the police tell it, wrapped out the details of a grisly discovery on the side of the road. on the upper michigan side, the detective had a feeling. gene maxwell and jeff paridon, who knew dennis gaede as tim wicks, mentioned that he said his f...

Painted the same picture, hes a con man. >> hes very confident, very well-spoken. >> gina barton is a reporter for "the milwaukee journal sentinel" whos written a book about dennis gaede and tim wicks called "fatal identity." she says gaedes career started in 1987 as a young man when he owned a towing business in milwaukee and bought stolen truck parts. gaede agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and become a police informant. >> he hung out in biker bars. he knew a lot of criminal elements. ...