The day before a Morrisonville woman disappeared, she was contacted by Middleton police investigating the theft of thousands of dollars from her former employer, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said Friday.
Middleton Police Capt. Noel Kakuske would not say whether Keri Geschke, 36, who has been missing since Tuesday, is a suspect in the theft. He said no decision had been made to arrest her.
“Our focus has been concern for her at this point,” Kakuske said. “We’ll look at the rest of it when she’s back safe and sound.”
Geschke’s husband, Scott, a self-employed carpenter, said that while the family is struggling financially, the possibility his wife might have been involved in the missing funds “is so far out of character that it is scary.”
But, he said, “I can’t stress enough how much myself, her family and her kids are just devastated, and we want her home, no matter what. Anything can be worked out.”
Mahoney said Keri Geschke was laid off from her job in the accounting department at Sound Billing in Middleton as a result of cutbacks.
In May, the company contacted Middleton police after finding thousands of dollars missing, he said. A detective left a message for Geschke on Monday, saying he wanted to speak with her about the fraud investigation.
Before her disappearance, Geschke sent in a payment to stop foreclosure action on her family’s home, Mahoney said.
Scott Geschke said the money came from an income tax return. He reported his wife missing Tuesday after returning from work to find she wasn’t home. She was last seen Tuesday morning dropping off her daughter at school in Morrisonville, just north of DeForest on the Columbia-Dane county line.
Family and friends have distributed fliers seeking information on her whereabouts.
On Friday, Adams Outdoor Advertising posted information about Geschke on a billboard along the Beltline near Rimrock Road.
Geschke is white, 5 feet 3 inches tall and 115 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing an orange T-shirt and blue jeans. She was driving a 2004 black Jeep Liberty with a bike rack on the back and Wisconsin license plate 15656K.
Anyone who has seen Geschke or the vehicle is asked to call 911.
