A Milwaukee man is in custody after turning himself in for brutally killing a teen girl, who friends and family say had “dreams of fighting for the voiceless and protecting women’s rights.”
John Gillum, 29, said he killed 19-year-old Morgan Huennekens after a dispute over a sexual encounter. Gillum claims he and Huennekens agreed to have sex for $160, but when she did not have change for the $200 he claimed to have given her, he brutally beat the teen with a pipe after stabbing her several times. According to the criminal complaint, Gillum walked into a local police station and admitted he “lost control and killed [a woman] with a knife and pipe.”
During his interview with police, Gillum said he and Huennekens met a few days before her murder and talked about having sex. When they met up at his home, Gillum said he became upset when they couldn’t agree on the terms of their sexual encounter and he punched her in the face before raping her. After he was done, Gillum told officers he “took a knife and stabbed her” five or six times five or six times which he said he learned from watching TV. When the teen appeared to be struggling, Gillum said beat her repeatedly with a metal pile “so she no longer had to suffer.” After the brutal attack, Gillum wrapped Huennekens’ body up and took it to a shed outside his house.
The medical examiner ruled the teen died from multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma.
This isn’t Gillum’s first violence incident. In 2015, he walked into a police station and admitted to punching his mother and admitted he “badly wanted to hurt people.”
Huennekens’ obituary described the teen as an “avid gymnast for most of her life” with “an endless list of hobbies including reading, art, cooking and spending time with the family and friends she loved.” According to her family, Huennekens was also passionate about social justice and founded Mothers And Daughters With Purpose, MADWP INC., an organization that “provided meals for the hungry; school supplies for children; a semi-truck of water for Flint, MI; purses for sex trafficking victims; along with food, clothing and essentials to families in need all throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.” Huennekens’ family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of her memorial service and continue the work of her charitable foundation
Gillum was charged with first-degree intentional murder and second-degree sexual assault. He is currently being held on $300,000 bond.