Parolee Thomas Routt Jr. Charged in Elkhorn Bar Double Murder

Thomas Routt Jr. is a parolee and convicted arsonist who is accused in the homicides of the husband and wife who were shot and killed in an Elkhorn, Wisconsin bar.

That’s according to WTMJ-TV, which confirmed the person of interest’s name with his attorney. Elkhorn police announced on February 5 that they have a person of interest in custody on unrelated charges; however, they have not named that person.

Routt has now been charged.

According to Fox 6, the criminal complaint says that Elkhorn police found two shell casings and a bullet at the scene and noticed the cash tray in the register was open and empty. A third victim told police a man playing a video gaming machine stood up and fired shots, Fox 6 reported, adding that Routt told police he committed the murders “more than likely for the money.”

According to Fox 6, Routt said the bartender told him to “put it away or she’d call the cops” and then “slapped the gun and it went off.” He then shot the male victim, fired shots at a fleeing female victim, and took cash, Fox 6 reported, citing the criminal complaint.

Routt’s attorney Russell Jones told WTMJ that he is representing Routt and that Routt, 57, “continues to maintain his innocence, and says he was not involved in the case.” Routt’s full name is Thomas A. Routt Jr. Before the recent development, he was touted by Gateway Technical College as a success story who became a campus ambassador after being paroled from prison following 25 years behind bars.

“He’s despondent. He’s in jail, he’s in custody and quite frankly, he’s confused at this point,” attorney Russell Jones told WISN about Routt.

Elkhorn police wrote in a February 1 news release that the Walworth County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the victims as Emerson Weingart, 33, and Gina Weingart, 37, both of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. They were shot to death at Sports Page Barr, in downtown Elkhorn. According to WTMJ, Gina Weingart worked at the bar, and her husband would go there to hang out with her.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Thomas Routt, Who Has a Lengthy Wisconsin Criminal History, Was Released on State Parole in 2020

DOCThomas Routt.

Routt has a lengthy state of Wisconsin criminal history, according to online court records.

He was released on state parole in August of 2020, Wisconsin Department of Corrections records say.

DOCThomas Routt prison history.

According to the Walworth County Jail records, he is being held on a parole hold.

Walworth County Jail records say he was taken into custody on February 4. He is described as 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighing 250 pounds.

There is a Thomas Routt Sr. who also has a criminal history in Wisconsin. However, the VINE Link site confirms that the Thomas Routt in custody in Walworth County is 57 years old.

That matches the age of the Thomas Routt Jr. who is the parolee, according to Wisconsin Department of Corrections records. A parole spreadsheet says Routt was paroled on a burglary offense, although court records show he was also convicted of arson.

A 2010 article in the Appleton Post-Crescent, accessed through Newspapers.com, spoke about Routt’s burglary sentence. That article was about a restorative justice program in Columbia Prison. The headline on the story was, “Inmates learn to feel pain of victims.”

At his burglary sentencing, a mother told the judge that her 3-year-old daughter said she was worried “Routt would break back into her house and steal her little brother and her toys.”

In the article, Routt said he wanted “that little girl to know how sorry I am.”

In 2008, he was convicted of battery by prisoners at the Columbia prison, according to Wisconsin court records.

2. Thomas Routt Jr. Was Accused of Burning Down the Home of His Ex-Mother-in-Law, Which the Sentencing Judge Called ‘One of the Sickest,’ Most ‘Dangerous’ Kinds of Arson Offenses the Judge Had ‘Ever Encountered’

DOCThomas Routt

Court records show that, in 1996, Routt “was convicted of arson to a building, uttering a forgery, and bail jumping. For the arson, he was sentenced to thirty years of imprisonment, consecutive to two Waukesha County cases. For the forgery and bail jumping, Routt was sentenced to consecutive five-year terms of imprisonment, imposed and stayed for a consecutive ten-year probationary term on the forgery and a concurrent five-year probationary term on the bail jumping.”

According to the court decision, “the sentencing court had deemed Routt’s ‘horrendous crime’ of arson—in which he burned down the home of his ex-mother-in-law while that family was at another daughter’s wedding—to be ‘one of the worst I’ve ever seen…. This is one of the sickest, most dangerous kind[s] of arson that I’ve ever encountered because it was an arson for revenge, an arson to inflict great pain upon the victims and it did,'” the records say.

Routt “was first eligible for parole in 2005; he was ultimately paroled in August 2020. In October 2020, he filed the motion for sentence modification that underlies this appeal. He asked that he ‘be released, without community supervision,'” the court decision says.

Routt wanted the sentence modification on the basis of changes in parole policies; “While Routt claims there have been changes to parole policy, he does not identify those changes with any specificity. He claims, for instance, that the policy ‘shift[s] the focus for parole release away
from acceptance of treatment and rehabilitation, toward lengthier and more punitive sentences,'” the decision says. “Routt contends that ‘comparatively fewer’ inmates have been released to parole compared to ten years ago, as noted in ‘various reports,’ which he does not cite.”

The appeals court upheld a lower court order that denied Routt’s request to be released from community supervision.

Parole policies became very controversial in Wisconsin when a victim’s family spoke out about the looming parole of a man convicted of killing his wife. Parole Commission Chairman John Tate resigned in spring of 2022, and that parole, of  Douglas Balsewicz, was rescinded. Parole Commission chairmen in Wisconsin are appointed by the governor, Tony Evers, and subject to confirmation by the state Senate. Tate was first named Parole Commission chairman in 2019. Routt was paroled in 2020.

Routt has a Facebook page with a single photo visible on it, posted almost two weeks after he was released.

In 2008, he was convicted of battery by prisoners at the Columbia prison, according to Wisconsin court records.

3. Police Found Both Gina & Emerson Weingart Deceased in the Bar From ‘Fatal Gunshot Wounds’

Facebook (Gina Weingart)Gina and Emerson Weingart

According to Elkhorn police, on Thursday, February 1, at 12:11 a.m., they received a 911 call for a report of shots fired and a person down inside the Sports Page Barr.

They found the male and female victim deceased from “fatal gunshot wounds” in the bar. The motive is not clear.

On Facebook, Emerson Weingart filled his page with photos showing him with his wife. He described himself as a “Meat Department Manager at Kroger Picknsave” who studied Geography at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. He lived in Elkhorn and was from Burlington, Wisconsin. The couple were first engaged in 2021, his page says.

Gina Weingart’s top visible posts on Facebook showed the couple’s wedding
Nathaniel Wachal told WISN-TV that he left the bar just minutes before the shooting.

“It was very slow, not a very big crowd, five or six people at max,” he told WISN, adding that a stranger at the gambling machines “stood out to him.”

“I gave him kind of a side eye when he got in there,” Wachal said to WISN, adding that the guy by the machines was still there when he left; the shootings occurred six minutes later.

“Suspect is in a winter hat and jacket, maybe 50-60 years old, white male,” officers said on dispatch audio, according to WISN.

4. Thomas Routt, Who Was Featured in a Story on Restorative Justice in Prison, Became a Campus Ambassador at Gateway Technical College in 2023, Describing Himself as ‘No Longer a Loser, a Loner’

Thomas Routt Jr. was named Gateway Tech College’s Elkhorn Campus Ambassador in 2023, according to a YouTube video.

In the video, he said he went “through some serious trauma” as a child because “I was molested.”

He said that left him so traumatized that he “couldn’t trust anybody” and became a D and F student and a “loner, a loser.”

He went to prison in 1995, which he credited with saving his life. Routt said he took his “first hard step to ask for help” and underwent 25 programs to learn about himself. “I finally got out of prison on 10-10 of 2020 after serving 25 years,” he said in the video.

He said he came to Gateway in 2021. He received his first degree with honors. But he was disabled and couldn’t get a job in that field. At the time of the video, he said he was working on his second degree and had made the dean’s list and won the president’s award. He said he was “in the mentoring program” and hosted trivia days.

“I am no longer a loser, a loner or suffer from depression,” Routt said.

According to Gateway College’s website, he was listed under “CNC Programmer Technical Diploma.”

When he graduated from Gateway in 2023, Routt was quoted in a profile story in the Kenosha News, accessed through Newspapers.com. That article reported that he gave a commencement address.

“The sleepless nights you put in to complete your homework on time paid off big time,” he said, according to the Kenosha News. “You took that chance at bettering your life no matter how hard it was or how many obstacles popped up along the way. Fellow graduates, we are tougher, and better off, for following and achieving our Gateway dreams.”

5. Emerson & Gina Weingart Were Remembered as ‘Dear Friends’ to the Bar’s Owner

Facebook (Emerson Weingart)Emerson and Gina Weingart.

Jordan Barr, the owner of the Sports Page Barr establishment, wrote in a lengthy Facebook post, “Hello everyone, this is Jordan Barr and I’d like to take a little time and talk about the horrific tragedy that took place within the Sports Page. A little after midnight on Feb. 1st some coward came into the bar and opened fire. Although this individual has not been identified/caught yet, I won’t be talking about him.”

He continued:

Instead, I want to talk about the two lives that were tragically taken from us too soon. Our bartender, Gina, and her husband Emerson, both dear friends of ours, were taken from all of us this morning. The Sports Page Barr staff and regulars have always been more than a tight knit group, a family. Before Gina joined our staff, her and Emerson started coming in and very quickly became close with all of us, staff and patrons alike.

When I eventually offered Gina a part-time job, they were already a part of the family. Their lives were just beginning, and I believe I speak for our entire Sports Page family by saying we are absolutely devastated by what happened. It is a despicable act of violence that has shaken all of us to our core.

I would like to take this moment to ask everyone to respect the privacy of our staff, as well as the families of Gina and Emerson. It has been incredibly hard for all of us to wrap our minds around what’s happened. Please give us all our space and time to deal. On another note, it has been incredibly heartwarming to see the overwhelming support and love from our community. We are hurting right now, but the support does help a bit.

Please keep your loved ones close and don’t take anything for granted.

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