Tony Haase Confessed to Killing 2 People 30 Years After They Were Murdered. Then, He Was Acquitted By Emily Blackwood

In November 2025, Dateline, which airs specials on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET, investigated another harrowing unsolved murder that left one rural Wisconsin community with more questions than answers.

The case began in March 1992, when 23-year-old Tanna Togstad and 35-year-old Timothy Mumbrue were found stabbed inside a farmhouse in Royalton, Wis., The Post-Crescent reported. Togstad was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. Mumbrue, who was her boyfriend, and her dog, Scruffy, also died of stab wounds.

Thirty years after the killings, police identified Tony Haase as a possible suspect and staged a traffic stop to obtain his DNA. It matched a sample from Togstad’s body, and he was arrested in August 2022.

Despite DNA evidence and a confession in which he revealed a decades-old tie to one of the victims, Haase was found not guilty of the double homicide in 2025, per The Post-Crescent. His defense team claimed that the DNA evidence was unreliable after years of an unclear chain of custody and that a relative in his family with a violent history was the real killer.

So, where is Tony Haase now? Here’s everything to know about his acquittal and who his lawyers suggested the real killer was.

Togstad and Mumbrue were stabbed to death in 1992

On March 20, 1992, Togstad returned home from a night out dancing at a tavern with her boyfriend of less than a year, according to The Post-Crescent. The couple was last seen alive between 11:30 p.m. and midnight — their bodies were found inside Togstad’s farmhouse two days later.

Mumbrue suffered multiple stab wounds, some of which showed that he attempted to defend himself. Togstad, who worked at a cheese factory, died of a single stab wound to the chest, per WLUK. Her dog was also killed.

Haase confessed to the double homicide in 2022

After identifying Haase as a potential suspect, police staged a traffic stop in 2022 during which they obtained his DNA sample from a pen. When they ran it against swabs taken from Togstad’s body in 1992, they found it matched, per The Post-Crescent.

Haase, who was 21 at the time of the killings, admitted during an August 2022 interrogation that he only remembers “snippets” of entering Togstad’s home that night and getting into a “scuffle” with Mumbrue. He also said he was “afraid” that he was involved in the murders after seeing news reports about the crime, according to a criminal complaint.

In addition to the confession and DNA match, Haase’s handprint also matched a handprint found on the door of Togstad’s house. He was later charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Togstad’s father was involved in a snowmobile accident that killed Haase’s father in 1977

The interrogation revealed a connection between Togstad and Haase — and a possible motive for murder. He told police that their fathers were friends until his dad died in a snowmobiling accident that her dad was involved in, The Post-Crescent reported. Haase was around 7 years old at the time of his father’s death.

He also told investigators that on the night of the murders, he was thinking about his father’s accident while drinking and continued to as he headed to Togstad’s home. Assistant Attorney General Amy Ohtani told the court that she believed Haase expected her to be alone because her truck was the only car in the driveway.

“Whatever motivated him to go inside that house, he justified it by thinking about that snowmobiling accident,” she said. “He wasn’t anticipating Tim being there, who was ready to protect himself and Tanna. And died trying.”

Haase’s defense team claimed his uncle was the real murderer

During Haase’s trial, his defense team argued he had been coerced into a false confession using deceptive tactics and that the real murderer was his uncle, Jeff Thiel, who died in 1995, WLUK reported.

He allegedly had a history of killing dogs and cats and had threatened to kill multiple wives in the past, according to Haase’s attorneys, per The Post-Crescent. The outlet reported that some people even suggested that police look at Thiel as a suspect in the Togstad-Mumbrue murders throughout the investigation.

Related Stories

Stephen Schwartz Was Murdered in His Florida Mansion In 2014. Years Later, His Family Found Out the Doctor Had a Dark Past of His Own

Benjamin Elliott Claimed He Was Sleepwalking When He Stabbed His Sister to Death. Now, He’s Serving 15 Years in Prison

Haase’s team also argued that Thiel may have been assisted by two other assailants, including convicted murderer Glendon Gouker, who previously confessed to killing Togstad and Mumbrue. Police named him a person of interest in February 2013 after DNA evidence linked him to the crime scene, per The Post-Crescent.

However, Ohtani argued that Gouker had a history of false confessions and was lying to avoid the death penalty in Oklahoma, where he was convicted of murdering a 19-year-old man and raping his girlfriend.

Haase was acquitted in 2025

Haase was found not guilty of both counts of first-degree intentional homicide on Aug. 11, per The Post-Crescent. Days later, Togstad’s brother, Richard Togstad, filed a $17 million wrongful death lawsuit against Haase, claiming that he killed her because he blamed her father for his father’s death.

“We were waiting 33 years for it, and when it went the other way, I still couldn’t believe it. I still don’t,” he told WBAY in August 2025. “They had all the evidence. They had all the evidence to convict somebody, but for some unknown reason, it went the wrong way.”

Richard added, “He got to live his life. He got to have kids; he got to have grandkids. He got to have all these things. And Tanna got nothing, absolutely nothing, besides dead.”

Two months later, Haase denied all allegations outlined in the Togstad family’s lawsuit and requested dismissal, per The Post-Crescent.