Gary Hirte

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Thoma agreed to lure Hirte into one final conversation about the killing. Once again, he went through it detail by detail, authorities said. But this time, there was a Winnebago County detective listening, taping every word.

Gary Hirte

A few days later, Gary Hirte, the golden boy, was escorted from the principal's office at Weyauwega-Fremont High School in handcuffs. He was charged with first-degree murder, for which he faces life in prison.

In the weeks following his arrest, authorities say, evidence against Hirte continued to mount. Using DNA samples taken from the sheath of Hirte's black hunting knife, authorities identified the droplets as Glenn Kopitske's blood. Though the shotgun used in the killing has never been recovered, prosecutors say they can prove that the 1992 Dodge Dynasty that Kopitske's neighbor claimed he had seen cruising down Arrowhead Lane was the same car Hirte was driving the night he allegedly killed Kopitske.

In March, with about a dozen supportive classmates in tow and Gerry Boyle, the Milwaukee attorney who defended Jeffrey Dahmer, at his side, Hirte pleaded not guilty. His trial is tentatively set to begin early next year, Jorgensen told Crimelibrary

Until then, he remains in jail on $400,000 bail. In one final ironic twist to the story, a few days before his arrest, Hirte received a letter from St. Cloud University in Minnesota. His academic record, his status as an Eagle Scout, and his accomplishments as an athlete had earned him a scholarship.

He had wanted to study criminal justice. Now, he's spending what would have been his first semester studying the criminal justice system from the inside.