Kriti Mehrotra
When Tanna Togstad, Timothy Mumbrue, and their dog were brutally stabbed to death inside the former’s Royalton, Wisconsin, home on March 21, 1992, it left the entire community shaken to the core. That’s because, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Raising the Dead,’ officials were unable to immediately zero in on a suspect even though numerous genetic imprints were left behind at the crime scene. In fact, it took until the summer of 2022 for an arrest to finally be made based on reported DNA evidence, only for the suspect, Tony G. Hasse, to be acquitted following a lengthy court trial in 2025.
Tony Hasse Gave Officials His DNA Sample During a Traffic Stop
It was in the early 1970s that Tony Hasse was born in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, into a comfortable household with two loving parents. However, everything changed when he was merely 7 years old. He was seemingly close to his father, who sadly passed away in a freak snowmobile crash on December 31, 1977, while racing alongside two friends, one of whom happened to be Tanna Togstad’s father. According to records, the accident was truly horrible because while one vehicle crashed into his father’s, the third one then ran over them in the blink of an eye, causing injuries and sadly the one fatality.
Tony was deeply impacted by the incident, yet he seemingly managed to make the most of his own life by focusing not only on the present but also on continuing his father’s legacy through him. Therefore, by the time the early 2020s rolled around, he was happily settled in his hometown as a proud husband, father, and grandfather, all the while working in a local foundry to support his family. Little did he know he would become a later suspect in the 1992 homicide of family friend Tanna and Timothy Mumbrue based on what investigators said was a genetic profile detected from the fluids recovered from the former’s remains.
According to the records, investigators performed a traffic stop on Tony on July 6, 2022, and subsequently sent the DNA sample they had carefully procured from a pen he had used for testing. The Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory soon found this sample to be “consistent with the profile previously detected,” so the 51-year-old family man was arrested at his workplace on August 11, 2022. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder and held at the Waupaca County Jail on a $2 million bond – $1 million for each victim. It was later ordered that he will stand trial.
Investigators Alleged Tony Hasse Made Incriminating Statements
According to the criminal complaint, when Tony was confronted by detectives on August 11, 2022, he admitted he was “afraid he was involved” because he had “snippets/blurbs” of what he believed to be memories of the double homicide. He claimed he was in a “drunken stupor” on the night of March 20, 1992, which somehow led to him thinking about the accident that killed his father, and him suddenly deciding to go to Tanna’s home. He then indicated he got into a “scuffle” with Timothy, resulting in him possibly stabbing the latter until he fell, but he doesn’t remember if he had brought the knife into the house himself or not.
Tony then reportedly went on to tell the officials that he believes he heard Tanna scream “what the f**k,” which led him to punch her in the face, knock her out, and then fatally stab her too. When asked why he didn’t tell investigators what had transpired immediately, he replied, “I didn’t want it to sound like I had it planned,” because he still had no idea why he had allegedly done what he did. The fact that the couple’s dog was killed didn’t help his case either, and neither did his claim that his “memories” included him walking down the front steps of the crime scene before throwing up in the yard.
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Tony Hasse Was Acquitted of the Murders But is Currently Involved in a Civil Lawsuit
When Tony eventually stood trial for the charges against him in July 2025, the prosecutors asserted he alone was responsible for Tanna and Timothy’s homicides based on the DNA evidence. However, the defense argued that not only was the genetic testing portrayed as evidence flawed, but the confession of the family man was also coerced as a result of deceptive interrogation tactics. They then reiterated that the defendant was just 21 at the time of the killings with little to no motive, yet three other men – including his uncle Jeff Tiel, who died in 1995 – were better suspects for the crime.
Tony’s trial lasted over three weeks, during which it was asserted that he had also confessed he had no intention of hurting anybody on that fateful night, even if he was in a drunken stupor. So, after 4 days of deliberations, the jury came out with the verdict of not guilty because the prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he, or he alone, was behind the double homicide. As a result, on August 11, 2025, he was acquitted, his bond was vacated, and he was allowed to return home to his supportive family as a free man.
According to records, Tony can never be criminally charged for this crime again; however, his legal troubles are seemingly far from over as of writing. That’s because while his trial was still ongoing, Tanna’s brother Richard Togstad filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him, seeking nearly $17 million in damages for the murders he was accused of committing. The Waupaca County native has since maintained his innocence in a court filing, but the matter appears to be ongoing and could lead to another trial, albeit a civil one. Until then, it seems like Tony is determined to lead a quiet life alongside his loved ones.
