TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Ashley Zastrow, age 31 of Wausau, was arrested on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, in Marshfield by the Marshfield Police Department and was formally charged with lying on her application to purchase guns from a federally licensed dealer. She was arraigned in U.S. District Court on Aug. 8 in Madison.
U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea announced the charges in the Western District of Wisconsin. Zastrow was indicted by a grand jury on May 11, 2022, but that indictment was sealed until Zastrow’s arrest.
Zastrow allegedly made a false statement on a Firearms Transaction Record when she purchased two guns on Jan. 13, 2022, saying she was purchasing the guns for herself.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor Kraus will represent the prosecution which alleges Zastrow purchased the guns for someone else.
Days later, on Jan. 18, 2022, one of the guns was in the possession of Tanner H. Graap and was used in the Merrill shooting that resulted in the death of Kayla M. Frank, age 28, of Merrill.
Graap, also of Merrill, is charged with first degree intentional homicide and multiple other charges in the shooting and was a felon who was not to be in possession of a firearm and, as a felon, would not have been able to purchase a firearm on his own.
Graap is next scheduled to appear in Lincoln County Court on Sept. 1, 2022.
Zastrow remains in federal custody and faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Her trial is scheduled for Dec. 5, 2022, in U.S. District Court before Judge William M. Conley.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Merrill Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance the Marshfield Police Department, were involved with the investigation.