JANESVILLE — A Rock County court commissioner on Monday set a $1 million bond for a town of Turtle woman who authorities allege stabbed her 14-year-old daughter to death earlier this month to protect the girl from tech mogul Elon Musk.
During a brief jail court hearing Monday morning, Court Commissioner Jack Hoag declined a defense attorney’s request for a lower bond in lieu of Tyiece Oninski, 41, receiving mental health assistance.
Tyiece Oninski
He instead set the $1 million bond on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide, saying he believes Oninski is a danger to the community based on the alleged stabbing death, statements she has made since the death and a past court record of battery and violent behavior.
A criminal complaint filed Monday in Rock County Circuit Court indicates Oninski made a 13-minute-long 911 call on March 20 in which she said she had killed her daughter by stabbing her with a knife at some point the day before at their home in 2000 block of East Gorton Street in the town of Turtle, near Beloit. When asked if the girl required medical assistance, Oninski said to “send a hearse.”
According to the complaint, Oninski told sheriff’s deputies and town of Beloit police who responded to the scene that she had stabbed her daughter to death and then used a knife to try to kill herself. Oninski tried to lay down next to her daughter at one point, detectives noted in the complaint.
Sheriff’s deputies and town of Beloit police who responded found Oninski with knife gashes to her head, neck and wrists. She then told police her daughter was dead.
Authorities found the 14-year-old inside a porch in the home with the door shut. She was lying on the floor in a large pool of blood with two deep stab wounds to her neck and stab wounds on her wrists, detectives said in the complaint, although authorities said the girl had no “defensive wounds.”
It appeared the teen had been dead several hours, the complaint said.
Authorities said they found a black pocket knife and an empty sheath next to the girl’s body. Oninski confirmed she had left the knife there that was allegedly used in the stabbing.
Police said Oninski told them: “Yeah, I murdered her to protect her from somebody else, period.” Oninski later told authorities she stabbed her daughter to “protect her from Elon Musk.”
It’s not clear what threat Oninski thought Musk might have posed to her daughter.
Toxicology reports showed Oninski had benzodiazepines, amphetamines and THC in her blood.
Oninski’s attorney, Matt Lantta, asked for a lower bond, arguing that Oninski is indigent and shows signs of mental distress.
Hoag went on to outline the facts of the death, saying the girl killed was an “honors student” at Beloit Memorial High School.
Hoag said he was troubled by Oninski’s demeanor in the hours after her arrest, after she was hospitalized with self-inflicted injuries.
“She was speaking to an individual at the Madison hospital, and what she’s alleged to have said is ‘Is, like, my name all over the news yet?’” Hoag said.
“And the assessment by a deputy is that she appeared disappointed that the killing was not immediately featured in the news.”
“I don’t know how to take this right now as anything other than a first-degree intentional homicide case committed by a family member with a very high degree of violence involved, and a significant period of time that had elapsed before she reported the death of the juvenile,” Hoag said.
Oninski remains in jail. She is set to appear at an adjourned initial hearing on April 14.
