Justice may finally come for the daughters of a woman who was brutally murdered while she was working alone at a Wisconsin credit union branch 36 years ago.

Robin Mendez, 69, of Minocqua was arrested last week for allegedly murdering his wife, Barbara Mendez on April 28, 1982 at the Park City Credit Union building that had previously been located on Highway 51 in Minocqua.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Oneida County Circuit Court in Rhinelander on Feb. 6, Mendez was charged with first-degree murder and could receive a life in prison sentence if he is convicted. During a local court hearing, he did not enter a plea. His bail was set at $250,000.

Although the branch has been closed and the murder case went cold for more than three decades, it was never forgotten by police and the 5,000 residents of Minocqua, a small town nestled in the Northwoods forest in upper Wisconsin.

After reviewing boxes of documents, combing through the cold case's details and re-interviewing 27 witnesses over the last several months, an Oneida County Sheriff's Office investigative team produced a comprehensive probable cause report and submitted its findings to Oneida District Attorney Michael Schiek.

“The Oneida County Sheriff's Office and the Oneida County District Attorney's Office have been working together for years to ensure the person who did this is held accountable,” Schiek said. “We feel at this time, the evidence supports the arrest.”

One of the witnesses re-interviewed by investigators was Helen Gray, who was the branch manager and worked with Barbara Mendez. During the day, Gray became sick and left the branch at about 1 p.m. on April 28, leaving Mendez to work the rest of the afternoon alone.

Mendez knew how to close up the branch at 5 p.m., which included submitting a balance sheet for the day, turning off the lights and locking the doors and Mrs. Mendez car was still in the parking lot.

At about 7:30 p.m., Gray received a phone call from Mr. Mendez who said his wife did not show up for an evening church service. He asked Gray to check on her at the credit union. When Gray arrived at the branch, the doors were open.

When Gray walked up to the counter area, she spotted Mrs. Mendez's lifeless body and called police. Later she noticed Mrs. Mendez's deposit bag that contained $2,700 was missing but that the safe was open and about $17,000 was plainly visible but untouched.

An autopsy determined Mrs. Mendez died from multiple blunt injuries, abrasions and laceration to the head with an extensive skull fracture.

Investigators believe that the murderer used a pry bar to kill the 33-year-old credit union employee.

According the police documents, Gray never returned to work at the credit union and had to see a doctor to cope with the trauma of discovering Mrs. Mendez's body.

Last month, police also re-interviewed Mrs. Mendez's daughters, Dawn and Christy, who were 13 and 11, respectively, when their mother was murdered.

The daughters told police they were manipulated by their father to give him a fake alibi for his whereabouts on the day the murder occurred. They also said they confronted their father about it.

In addition to never denying that he killed his wife, the daughters said their father promised he would someday tell them what happened to their mother, according to police investigation.

“Christy said she reached out to her sister, Dawn, and they began to share their memories and realize[d] that their father had manipulated them as children so they would help him have an alibi,” according to the 36-page criminal complaint.

The daughters also told police investigators that their father never brought them to visit their mother's grave, and he never purchased a headstone.

Another shocking element to this case is that Mr. Mendez, a former youth pastor at a local church, allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who attended the same church. The relationship started about a year before the murder. She was only identified in police documents as Jodi.

While being re-interviewed by police investigators, she admitted to providing a false alibi for Mr. Mendez when she was initially interviewed by law enforcement soon after the murder. Mr. Mendez appeared in a local court hearing on Feb. 6, but he did not enter a plea. His bail was set at $250,000.

“This is a 36-year old cold case that we are pleased to see reopened; we hope the findings provide some resolution for the family of Barbara Mendez,” the $182 million Park City CU said in a prepared statement.

The Merrill-based credit union declined to comment on the case.

Instant Insights /

Police Crack Cold Case Murder of CU Employee

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