Milwaukee man arrested for choking woman to death after sex sentenced to life without parole

(Original Post 9-26-08)
A Northwest side of Milwaukee man is being investigated for links to other crimes after being formally charged Monday with 1st degree murder for the choking death of a 21 year old woman after sex. Sgt. Mark Stanmeyer says Milwaukee detectives are taking a closer look at Calvin Pirtle due to a previous incident involving a girl at the same home where the latest victim was killed.

Pirtle, 29, was charged Monday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 21-year-old Yasmine Tatum-Massey, whose body was found [September 17] in a plastic bag in Pirtle’s basement in the 4600 block of W. Mill Road.

According to the complaint, Pirtle told investigators that he and Tatum-Massey had consensual sex and took a shower together before she attacked him with a knife. Pirtle told police he took the knife away from her while choking her, and taped her wrists and ankles before she died, the complaint charges.

Pirtle's girlfriend found the victim's body last week after she was suspicious of Pirtle's insistence that blood found on the floor of their home was his after cutting himself. The girlfriend wanted him to call police, but he flagged down officers and told them about a robbery the week before. They left, assuming the blood was his, and the girlfriend unwittingly helped him clean up the crime scene.

After finding a 32 gallon garbage can with a large plastic bag, the girlfriend called police, who cut open the can and found Tatum-Massey's bruised, strangled body along with bloody duct tape.

Pirtle was charged with 2nd degree sexual assault for luring a girl in a similar manner to the same home in 2007.

The victim, a juvenile, told police she had gone to the same Mill Road home, where Pirtle pushed her to the floor, taped a sock in her mouth, taped her wrists, held a butcher knife to her neck, and threatened to kill her. He then taped her ankles together and raped her, according to the complaint. Pirtle admitted to many of the details.

However, Pirtle was able to plead down to false imprisonment, a misdemeanor which landed him in the House Of Correction in suburban Franklin for a year.

(Update 7-30-09) After being convicted of 1st degree intentional homicide in February, 2009, Pirtle was sentenced to life without parole yesterday.