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Sawyer County sheriff says homicide suspect is in custody; jail population steady near 60

Sawyer County Public Safety Committee · March 5, 2026

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Summary

Sheriff’s office told the Sawyer County Public Safety Committee deputies intercepted a vehicle linked to a Russ County missing-person/homicide investigation; the driver is held locally pending transfer. The sheriff also reported the county jail’s daily population at 59 and described staffing and enforcement activity.

The Sawyer County Public Safety Committee heard on Monday that deputies intercepted a vehicle connected to a missing-person investigation in neighboring Russ County, and the driver they contacted has been taken into custody and is being held in Sawyer County pending transfer, Sheriff Marshall Savitsky said.

"Long story short, the driver ended up being a suspect, which turned out to be a homicide," Savitsky said, describing coordination between Sawyer County deputies, Russ County and the Department of Criminal Investigation. He added a second person was taken into custody in Russ County.

The sheriff also delivered the department’s monthly operations update. "Our daily population for February was is was 59," Savitsky said, noting the year-to-date figure is running around 60. He described the jail population mix as roughly one-third on probation, one-third pre-sentence and one-third serving sentence, and said one person was on electronic monitoring on the day of the report.

The committee also received patrol statistics from the sheriff’s lieutenant. The lieutenant said three-month figures showed about 530 calls for service in December, roughly 794 in January and 550 in February; deputies issued 21 traffic citations, 14 written warnings and five non-traffic citations during the reporting period. The lieutenant reported 17 total crashes countywide year-to-date, seven with personal injury and no fatalities so far this year.

The sheriff’s office said it is hiring a full-time patrol deputy to fill a vacancy created by retirement and promotions and expects to fill the position soon. The department has begun receiving 2026 squad vehicles; four were sent to a vendor in Eau Claire for upfitting and another Tahoe is expected.

Savitsky said investigators recovered items of interest in Sawyer County during the Russ County investigation and that the departments are coordinating follow-up work. He said the suspect held locally "is probably gonna end up going to Russ County Jail here soon."