Fugitive Killer ‘Bambi’ Returned to Wisconsin Prison From Canada
TAYCHEEDAH, Wis. — A former Playboy Club waitress and policewoman sentenced to life for murder was returned to Wisconsin from Canada on Monday, 21 months after she escaped from prison.
Lawrencia (Bambi) Bembenek gained nationwide attention with her claims that she was framed for speaking out against higher-ups in the Police Department.
Supporters sold T-shirts emblazoned with “Run Bambi, Run†after she escaped in July, 1990. She was recaptured in October, 1990, working under an alias as a waitress in Thunder Bay, Canada, after a customer recognized her picture on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.â€
The former model was convicted in 1982 of fatally shooting her then-husband’s ex-wife in 1981. She said she was framed because she threatened to expose fraud and drug use among the Milwaukee police.
Bembenek, 33, was taken to Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the maximum-security prison she escaped from. She will be in isolation for up to 21 days, said prisons spokesman Joe Scislowicz.
After her arrest, Bembenek had argued that she was a fugitive from persecution in Milwaukee.
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