A western Wisconsin murder trial gets national attention, 5 years ago

The biggest court case of 2012 in La Crosse County was the double murder trial of Eric Koula.  That June, a jury found Koula guilty of shooting his parents, Dennis and Merna Koula, for their inheritance after racking up large debts through internet stock trading.  Defense lawyers proposed a theory that the Koulas were victims of mistaken identity, shot by a hitman looking for a different house in Barre Mills.  CBS News built an episode of “48 Hours” around the Koula case.  In 2017, Eric Koula’s latest attempt at a new trial was turned down by a local judge.
 
Four new murders occurred in La Crosse that same year.  One woman was found strangled in a parking lot, in a drug-related case.  A college student was shot on her living room couch by a burglar looking for money.  And a robber shot and killed a camera store owner and his 19-year-old son, inside the store on a Saturday afternoon.  Shortly after that double slaying, Ron Tischer was sworn in as La Crosse’s new police chief, succeeding retired chief Ed Kondracki.
 
There was a downtown closing that Christmas, when the La Crosse Community Theatre ended a 44-year run on 5th Avenue, in what is now the Cavalier Theatre.  LCT relocated to the Weber Center after a holiday production of “A Christmas Story.”  Five years ago, 2012, yesterday in La Crosse.