$10,000 reward offered in West Allis homicide

WEST ALLIS -- Friends and family of 57-year-old Jeffrey Garnier are pleading with the public for any information relating to the November 20th homicide of Garnier near 91st and Lincoln Avenue. They're now offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can lead police to an arrest.

West Allis police say Garnier's body was found lying in the roadway, after they received a call just after 2:30 a.m. Police say Garnier was unconscious and unresponsive, and they had initially thought he had been drinking, but were not able to determine what caused the injuries.

Garnier was taken to Aurora West Allis Medical Center where he suffered a stroke and was found to have a blood alcohol level of .194. He was transferred to St. Luke's Medical Center where he died on November 25th. An autopsy revealed Garnier died from complications of blunt force trauma to the head.

Police say surveillance video shows four men chasing down Garnier as he tried to run away. After they caught up to him, the video shows one man punch Garnier, and after he falls down, one attacker reaches into Garnier's pockets and then the attackers flee the scene in a vehicle. Police are looking for a car that may have left the scene with its lights off. Police say they'd also like to speak with the driver of another car, who surveillance video shows nearly hit the attackers.

Garnier's sister, Maryann Ostrenga says Thanksgiving would usually be a time Garnier would gather with family, but instead he died at St. Luke's. Now, Ostrenga wants people to know about the happy guy who was a lost soul, relying on walking or buses to get around.

"Jeff was an extremely kind and generous person, almost to a fault. People would take advantage of him because of his kindness. He would just shine around kids and loved life," Ostrenga said.

Ostrenga says they'd like anyone who knows anything about what happened to come forward. "Somebody knows something, or somebody knows those four people. We've put up the reward money for someone to come forward," Ostrenga said.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call 414-476-CASH.