Life in prison for Daniel Tate, convicted of strangling 17-year-old girl he met online, dumping her body
Daniel Tate
KENOSHA COUNTY -- A Kenosha man has been sentenced to life in prison in connection with the death of Olivia Mackay, 17, of Kenosha.
Daniel Tate, 20, of Kenosha was found guilty by a jury in June -- convicted on three counts: first degree intentional homicide, as party to a crime, hiding a corpse, as party to a crime and take and drive vehicle without consent, as party to a crime.
In court on Monday, Aug. 20, Tate was sentenced to serve life in prison on the homicide conviction, seven-and-a-half years in prison and five years extended supervision on the hiding a corpse conviction and three years in prison and three years extended supervision on the vehicle conviction -- to be served consecutively, with credit for 383 days time served.
His co-defendant, Jamari Cook, 18, of Kenosha in July pleaded guilty to two charges: hiding a corpse, as party to a crime, and take and drive vehicle without consent, as party to a crime.
He will be sentenced on Sept. 17.
Olivia Mackay
Mackay's body was discovered in Mount Pleasant on July 24, 2017, on Louis Sorenson Road. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be strangulation. She was the subject of a missing person's report after she failed to show up to work.
A criminal complaint indicates investigators spoke with Jamari Cook on Aug. 4, 2017. He indicated he was staying with Tate on July 23, 2017, and they were staying at his grandmother's home on Sheridan Road. Cook said Tate "meets a lot of girls online," and he had arranged to meet up with a girl later identified as Mackay on July 23.
On that date, Cook said Mackay picked up Tate and Cook and they drove down by the "Band Shell" near 35th Street and 7th Avenue in Kenosha, before heading down to Racine, eventually returning to the Band Shell. They then walked down by the lake.
Cook said Tate and Mackay were hugging, and he "gave them some space." The complaint indicates Cook later saw Tate choking Mackay -- "lifting her off of the ground." He described it as a "sleeper hold," and said Mackay became motionless. Cook said he then saw Tate holding Mackay under the water for five minutes -- with one knee on her back and his hands by her head and shoulder area. Cook said Tate then found an apron-type piece of clothing on the beach, and wrapped it around her neck -- "pulling back until her head and upper body were bent backwards." Cook said Mackay was no longer moving and Tate took her body back to her car, where Tate asked Cook for help lifting her into the trunk. Cook said he helped because "there was no going back now."
Daniel Tate
Daniel Tate, Jamari Cook
Cook told investigators they lifted the body into the trunk and Cook got into the driver's seat, and Tate told him where to go. Cook said he asked Tate what he wanted to do with the body, and Tate said "he didn't know yet." Cook said he eventually drove to an area in Racine County, where they stopped and Tate wrapped Mackay's body in garbage bags. They then carried her to an area where "there were a lot of weeds" and laid her on her back under the bushes "where they thought no one would find her," the complaint says.
Body found in field in Mount Pleasant
Jamari Cook
Tate then drove, dropping Cook off at his girlfriend's house, the complaint says.
According to the complaint, Cook said he asked Tate what he was going to do with the car, and he said he was going to "flip it" for money.
Investigators discovered a Facebook Messenger conversation where Tate was trying to sell Mackay's vehicle to an individual, to whom he had sent a picture of it, the complaint says.