EQUINOX In Kenosha Removes McDowell's Photo From Website

Erin Ziemendorf and Matthew McDowell

McDowell no longer featured in the EQUINOX Body and Soul Boutique website as a License Massage Therapist. He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.

By H. Nelson Goodson

October 29, 2013

Kenosha, WI - On Tuesday, Matthew McDowell's photo and brief statement of his work has been removed from the EQUINOX Body and Soul Boutique website where he worked. McDowell, 40, of Kenosha was featured in the EQUINOX website as a License Massage Therapist.
McDowell was charged on Tuesday with one count for first-degree intentional homicide, one count for hiding a corpse and a $350,000 bail was set. He is scheduled to appear at a Kenosha County court on November 5 for further proceedings.
He was arrested on Sunday after turning himself to Kenosha police and confessing that he accidentally killed Erin Ziemendorf, 30, of West Allis. Ziemendorf's body was discovered on Sunday at 6:25 p.m. by Chicago police near a Greyhound station at the 500 block of South Jefferson St. Her body was found inside the trunk of her Silver 2004 Grand Prix with Wisconsin license plates in a public parking lot.

McDowell told police that he got into a heated argument with Ziemendorf and he accidentally killed her. He then drove her vehicle to Chicago with the victim's body in the trunk. McDowell left Ziemendorf's auto near a Greyhound station and then took a train back to Kenosha where he decided to turn himself to police.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Ziemendorf's death a homicide by blunt-force trauma to her neck from an assault.