On a remote stretch of tribal land, a desperate 911 call cuts through the silence. A young mother says she’s stranded. Her fiancé is with her. Their infant son is in the back seat. And then—nothing. Hours later, police find an abandoned SUV… a burning outhouse… and human remains reduced to ash.
Just steps away, inside a nearby cabin, a man is discovered asleep beneath a blanket—alive, unharmed—beside a baby who shouldn’t be there. The woman who made the call is gone. What happened in those final hours? Why was the fire set? And how did one person survive while another never had a chance? CALL FOR HELP On May 16, 2020, just before 8:00 p.m.
, the Winnebago Police Department received a call from a woman who was obviously in need of help. According to the woman, she, her fiancé, and their 4-month-old infant son were stuck in their vehicle on a muddy road in a remote area of the Winnebago Reservation. The police department dispatched two Winnebago Conservation Officers to the site, and they went looking for the people stuck in the vehicle.
They didn’t find anyone, but they did manage to find an abandoned vehicle, a GMC Yukon. The officers looked inside the car, and no one was in it. It also didn’t look alarming from the inside. Everything was normal, and it didn’t look suspicious at all. But the officers still needed to find the three people who were in the vehicle.
So, they drove down to Walthill, but there was no sight of anyone there. The officers searched and searched and then called an end to it when they couldn’t find anyone. A couple of hours later though, a pair of Winnebago Conservation Officers and firefighters responded to a fire in an outhouse next to a cabin in a nearby area.
This area was somewhat close to the place where the abandoned car was found. The outhouse was surrounded by bright orange flames, and sadly, there was nothing that could be salvaged. The fire was put out by firefighters, and then when it was safe for entry, officers from the Winnebago Conservation and firefighters assessed the outhouse.
When they went inside, they found charred human remains, and suddenly, things had taken a very chilling turn. This fire was no accident. It was started by someone, and now seeing what the officers discovered, they had an inkling why. Then, the officers decided to search the cabin right by the outhouse, which was unharmed. They went inside, and almost immediately, they found a mattress with a blanket draped over the top.
When the officers approached the mattress and lifted the blanket, a man startled awake from beneath it. He was unclothed, and before the police arrived, it seemed like he was sleeping without a care in the world. But officers noticed something else too. The man wasn’t alone. A baby was sleeping soundly next to the man.
Who was this man and baby? And whose remains were found next door in the outhouse? What was going on? Well, the police asked the man who he was, and he answered that his name was Jonathan and that the baby was his and his fiancée’s—whose name was Kozee Decorah. Then, the police inquired about the said fiancée, she was nowhere to be found.
They knew in the back of their minds that something terrible had likely happened. So, the remains were sent away for identification. They were examined by forensic experts, but they were unable to determine a definitive cause of death. The embers had erased almost all traces of evidence or clues.
The remains had to be identified through dental records, and when the results came out, the remains belonged to none other than 22-year-old Kozee Decorah—Jonathan’s fiancée. The same man who was found sleeping with his baby in the cabin next to the alight outhouse. The police were left shocked.
If Jonathan was right next to Kozee, then why didn’t he do anything to save her from the fire? And where were his clothes? THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH Kozee Decorah was a 22-year-old woman of the Ho-Chunk tribe, living in Wittenberg, Wisconsin. She was the youngest of six siblings and belonged to a big and loving family. The people of the Ho-Chunk tribe are also known as “the people of the big voice”.
They belong to the (SOO uhn) Siouan-speaking tribe, established in Wisconsin during the French contact in the 1630s. The Ho-Chunk tribe has various origin theories. Some suggest that the tribe migrated to the Midwest from the eastern coastline back in 800 to 1200 AD from the Ohio River, while others theorize that this tribe migrated from the lower Mississippi River valley and then called Wisconsin their home in the 1500s.
But by the 20th century, people of the Ho-Chunk tribe were living in Wisconsin as well as Nebraska. So, this was the very tribe Kozee belonged to. Her dad had passed away at an early age, so she was largely raised by her mother and the rest of the tribe. Kozee was also very religious, and a person who had a contagious laugh. She was also fond of dancing and running.
Overall, she was a free spirit. After graduating from high school, Kozee moved to Nebraska. But after this move, she began to have issues with alcohol addiction. Now we don’t know the timeline of when this all took place, but what we do know is that, at the time of today’s case, Kozee had been sober for quite some time and was well on her way to turning her life around.
Soon enough, Kozee met a man by the name of Jonathan Daniel Rooney, who was from Winnebago. We don’t know when the two got into a relationship; but what we do know is that Kozee ended up getting pregnant, and the two welcomed three children, the youngest being a 4-month-old infant. They named their children Mila, Kyson, and Tydus.
But the relationship between Kozee and Jonathan was anything but perfect. The two were initially fine, but then, Jonathan started to control Kozee. He was very manipulative, physically and emotionally abusive, and very volatile. He even threatened to seriously harm Kozee at one point. It was also not a secret to Kozee’s friends and family that she was in an abusive relationship with Jonathan.
I’m assuming that it was during her relationship with Jonathan when Kozee’s mental health started to derail, leading to her addiction – but this is purely a guess on my part. This information was never publicly shared. But, even though the relationship was not ideal, Kozee and Jonathan still continued to stay together, and they even got engaged.
Truth be told, Kozee’s life was taking a downward spiral until her kids came into her life, and that was when she was struck with motivation to pick herself up and turn her life around. In her own words, Kozee’s children were her savior.
Kozee was living in a very depressing state at the time, but when she became a mom, it was as if she had a renewed purpose in life. She couldn’t ruin her own life when she had her kids to look after, and if Kozee was anything, she was a loving mother. She hoped to change herself for the better—for her children’s sake. Now at the time of today’s case, Kozee was living in Nebraska, whereas her kids were with Jonathan.
I’m assuming because of Kozee’s crisis, the kids were left in Jonathan’s care while Kozee got back on her feet. This was a very eye-opening moment for Kozee. So, she worked to pull herself out of this rut, and her family and friends were there for her every step of the way. Finally, in May 2020, Kozee celebrated her 3-month sobriety mark, and she was making plans to go back to Wisconsin and get her kids back.
She was doing better, and now, she wanted to continue being a good mom to her kids, fulfill their wishes, and be there for them. But she wouldn’t get to do that, because now, she was found in a burned-up cabin, and her kids were left motherless. WHAT HAPPENED KOZEE? After the discovery and identification of Kozee’s remains, the police broke the news to her family, and they were floored.
Kozee was getting her life on track, and she was ready to take her kids back and was in the process of going back to Wisconsin to reunite with her children for good, but now, this had happened. And she was with Jonathan? And he, on the other hand, was found relatively unharmed? Kozee’s family was devastated at this news, and probably a bit suspicious.
The police were also confused about this whole scene. Kozee called 911 a couple of hours before she was discovered. Why did she call 911? Was she in trouble then? Was the car really stuck in the mud? Or was it something else? Only Kozee and Jonathan knew the answers to these questions, and tragically, one of them wasn’t there to tell their side of the story.
So, the police investigated the cabin and the outhouse further, and they took Jonathan in for a round of questions. When the officers entered the outhouse, which was now pretty badly burned, they started to look for things that could link to what happened to Kozee just hours ago. Well, they found some pretty odd things from the get-go.
First, by the site of the fire, the police discovered weird stains on the floor. They were disturbing drops of red. The police immediately took note of this detail. This was not ordinary at all. Then the police also discovered a red mark by the gas grill that was similar to a handprint.
We don’t know whose handprint it was or whether it was tested against Jonathan or anything like that. But it was still alarming regardless. We also don’t know if the police found any evidence of an accelerant being used in the fire. Still, the police carried on their search. They flipped the entire outhouse and cabin upside down, but they couldn’t find one thing—a very important thing. Jonathan’s clothes.
They found it to be really weird that Jonathan was found practically unclothed by the police. Where did his clothes go? Why did Jonathan presumably get rid of them? Well, this was something that only Jonathan could answer, so now they turned their sights on Jonathan, hoping that he’d be the one to blow the case wide open, and explain everything.
But what Jonathan had to tell the police… was anything but what they expected. FIANCÉ IS THE SUSPECT Right off the bat, the police were highly suspicious of Jonathan. They also did a bit of digging into his personal life and his relationship with Kozee, and they didn’t find anything promising. It was one red flag after the other.
The abusive nature of the relationship, the physical violence Kozee endured, her crumbling relationship with Jonathan, and her moving to Nebraska—all of it just rubbed the police the wrong way. Then, the investigators noticed another very crucial detail. It was on Jonathan’s body. Jonathan had injuries on his right cheek and on his left shoulder and either what looked like a bruise or a red stain on his arm. He couldn’t explain any of his injuries.
They were consistent with a struggle, and judging by what the police walked into at the outhouse, the pieces were starting to fall into place. Jonathan told the police that on May 16, he and Kozee had plans to attend a ceremony at the Native American Church on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska, and had gone to that remote place to collect some wood for the ceremony.
As they were doing their work, it was when the couple got into an argument. Apparently, it was about Jonathan using illegal substances. I’m guessing that this was also one of the many reasons for the rift and tension in the couple’s relationship, but I’m not 100% sure.
But Jonathan then told the police that Kozee got physical with him and then proceeded to kick him out of the outhouse and shut the door. This was why Jonathan was found in the cabin sleeping on the mattress. According to Jonathan, he didn’t know what had happened, and he claimed that he had been drugged and framed for Kozee’s attack. By whom? We don’t know.
Also, this feels like a pretty major leap, a pretty big assumption to just immediately jump to “I was drugged”. So, the investigators decided to probe more for details. They straight-up asked Jonathan if he felt that things had gotten out of hand that night, and Jonathan did admit that he was “backed into a corner” by Kozee and her behavior – whatever that means.
After this, Jonathan stopped cooperating with the investigators altogether, and he asked for an attorney, which was pretty much the end of the interview for now. Soon enough, the FBI also got involved in Kozee’s case, and an evidence report revealed that inside the abandoned vehicle, which was found a good distance away from the outhouse and the cabin in the reservation… was a gas can and a chainsaw.
THE PERPETRATOR 25-year-old Jonathan Rooney was arrested on June 1st, 2020, almost 3 months after Kozee’s untimely passing. He was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter occurring in Native American Country, and destruction of evidence. Jonathan pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. So, he was in jail, awaiting trial.
The federal trial was initially scheduled for May 10, 2021, but it was pushed back to August 16.Kozee’s family and loved ones made it a point to attend every hearing, no matter how painful it was. Kozee’s sisters were also present at the trial. Since they were all older than her, they felt like it was important for them to be there for Kozee and fight for justice.
The trial was mostly focused on how Kozee was attacked and Jonathan’s involvement in the attack. The prosecution presented its arguments first. According to the prosecution, Kozee was attacked by Jonathan in the outhouse following an argument. We don’t really know what the argument was about, but it got out of hand, and Jonathan saw no other way but to attack Kozee.
He fatally injured Kozee, got rid of his clothes, and then set the outhouse alight to get rid of Kozee and any evidence. It is believed that his and Kozee’s 4-month-old son was the sole witness to this attack, which is a harrowing detail to reveal. The prosecution also stressed the history of violence in Kozee and Jonathan’s relationship, and they thought that the argument the couple had that fateful evening was the straw that broke the camel’s back and that was what led Jonathan to act on his plan.
On the other hand, the defense thought that Kozee’s passing was her own doing – and yes, you heard me correctly. The defense suggested that Kozee might have been the one to cause her own demise. The defense argued that the evidence found in the outhouse and the car was purely circumstantial and there was no reason for Jonathan to drive Kozee to her end.
The defense painted Kozee as someone who frequently had dark thoughts about ending it all, and this might have been the reason that led to this tragedy. The defense also stated that just because Jonathan was there doesn’t mean that he was the perpetrator. The defense also didn’t take Jonathan’s history of violence and abuse into account. They just disregarded it altogether.
Now, we don’t know if Kozee ever made an official complaint about Jonathan’s violence. It is only Kozee’s friends and family who claimed that Jonathan was volatile and physically violent towards Kozee. But the defense couldn’t really explain Jonathan’s missing clothes, the disturbing red stains in the outhouse, and Jonathan’s injuries, so there’s that.
The trial ended with both sides presenting their arguments, and at the end of it, the 12-person jury deliberated for a day before coming to the verdict… Jonathan Rooney was found… not guilty of second-degree murder. But he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter as well as destruction of evidence.
The sentence for the manslaughter charge was going to be a maximum of 15 years. Along with this, convicted felons may be given a maximum fine of $250,000 and a three-year term of supervised release. Whereas, for tampering with evidence, the penalty was up to 20 years. Jonathan’s sentencing was held on March 11, 2021, and he was given a collective sentence of 25 years in a federal prison, which Kozee’s family felt was not anywhere near enough for the damage and grief Jonathan caused the Decorah family. Kozee’s friends and family even reached
out to the US Attorney’s office to call for harsher charges and punishment for Jonathan. Kozee’s family rallied for fair treatment in the court of justice, but in the end, 25 years was all he got. Whereas Kozee never even got to live to see the age 25. JUSTICE FOR KOZEE Even though the perpetrator was behind bars, the Decorah family took it upon themselves to fight for justice for Indigenous women—including their own petition to modify Jonathan’s charges and have him retried for more serious and harsh penalties.
A change.org petition was filed by one of Kozee’s family members, Stacey Schinko, which has received over 14,000 signatures as of present, and in the petition, she has requested assistance to press harsher charges on Jonathan. Some of the suggested charges include premeditated murder, second-degree murder, felony child abuse, illegal possession of firearms, obstruction, kidnapping, and willful destruction of evidence.
Stacey also pointed out different aggravating factors that make Kozee’s attack and the crime Jonathan committed punishable by death. According to Stacey, 9 such factors make Kozee’s attack so much more heinous. Explain what they’re getting at, take a listen to this: Number 1.
The murder was committed in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of such a crime; 2. The offender knowingly created a great risk of death to multiple persons; 3. The murder was committed, knowingly, to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of a government function or the enforcement of the laws. So you can see, given all of these statements, they’re not technically wrong.
Jonathan did, in fact, do all of these things, and thus, should’ve been eligible for the death penalty. But Kozee’s case isn’t the first or last on the list of attacks on indigenous women. There were many women before her and many women after her who met the same tragic end, and in many cases, justice was delayed, insufficient, or completely absent altogether.
Many MMIW activists took their protests to the streets as well as television, and expressed their concerns about the judicial system for not giving these women and their victims fair justice. The point is, the perps are in plain sight, but somehow they’re never caught, and this is what leads to dissatisfaction in the end for grieving families.
Many people seem to blame the Native’s for their own suffering, claiming that their tribes make it incredibly difficult for police to do their jobs correctly, claiming that their leaders and police just keep stepping on each other’s toes, so the local police just opt out entirely, leaving so many of these cases unsolved.
Whether there’s any real truth to that, I truly have no idea, because both sides just want to blame the other. But on June 16th, 2020, a huge flock of women gathered outside the federal courthouse in Omaha, following Kozee’s passing. They stood with their posters in hand and slogans blasting through megaphones.
Chants of “Justice for Kozee” and “No bail, keep him in jail” reverberated from the outside all the way to the rooms of the courthouse. As someone who has threatened Kozee so many times and was physically violent towards her, it seems likely that Jonathan couldn’t keep his anger in check that night. Now, I’m sure a lot of people are upset with Kozee staying with Jonathan for as long as she did, and even having kids with him and getting engaged to him.
But what you have to understand is that domestically violent and abusive relationships are never easy to unpack and take apart. It’s really easy to say that a victim should leave an abusive relationship from a distance, but it is never black and white. Victims in abusive and volatile relationships are torn down, brainwashed, and manipulated by the aggressors to a great extent—just like Kozee was.
They can get further trapped in the relationship when the aggressor ties them down—either with children, marriage, or even an engagement. Kozee had children with this man. She couldn’t just walk out the door like it was nothing. And Jonathan was successful in keeping a grip on Kozee. Even if Kozee didn’t want to come back for Jonathan, she had to for her kids.
Things for Kozee were finally looking up when she fought her demons and was waiting to be reunited with her kids. She was taking control of her life, and perhaps Jonathan didn’t like seeing that. He wanted Kozee to remain under his control forever, and when she resisted, he ended her life. Kozee’s attack has many possibilities.
It could’ve been premeditated, because how does one explain the gas can and chainsaw in the car? And Jonathan’s clothes. Why did he get rid of them? It is strongly believed that the clothes were destroyed in the fire, intentionally. A person doesn’t just strip off their clothes and burn them in a remote area unless there’s something they don’t want other people knowing.
Also, the call Kozee made to 911 is bizarre in itself. But some of the unanswered questions that we all keep asking are: Was the DNA in the outhouse tested? Was the chainsaw tested for any DNA? What was the motive? What happened that led Kozee to call for help in the first place? Did someone hear or see anything during that time when the car was discovered and then the fire was reported? Yes, it was a remote area, but there could’ve been something—anything that could lead to answers.
There are just so many things that could’ve gone either way, but one thing is for sure: Kozee’s passing was not her own doing. It just makes zero sense. I don’t even know why the defense thought that this was a good enough reason to defend Jonathan in court. The truth is, Kozee was looking forward to the changes in her life. She couldn’t have possibly taken such a drastic step.
I just hope that Kozee’s family is doing okay, especially after losing their loved one so suddenly and inexplicably, and we hope that they can channel their grief into a greater cause, because this was all so incredibly disturbing and it is high time that the attacks on Indigenous women are taken more seriously.
— Thank you guys for tuning into another episode of True Crime Stories. I wanted to give a special thank you to a couple channel members, including Matt W, Ashlee Seeback, Laura, Elissa Youngbluth, and Gayle Grundy. If you also want to become a member of the channel, you’ll gain access to new videos sometimes days or weeks before they’re uploaded to the public, and it’s a great way to support the channel and help out.
I really appreciate those of you who’ve decided to do that. If you want to join, you can click that big “JOIN” button below the video, or find the link in the description. Don’t forget, True Crime Stories t-shirts are also available, and you can grab one of those from the link down in the description as well. But as always, if you enjoyed this video, check out this other interesting case I covered – and don’t forget to subscribe.
It is totally free and keeps you up to date with all of my future videos. But my name is Ty Notts, and I will catch you guys in the next one.
