Straw purchase provided gun that killed Kayla Frank

TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
On March 3, 2023, a press release from the Office of U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin, U.S. Department of Justice, said 32-year-old Ashley Zastrow of Merrill was sentenced on March 2 for making false statements during the purchase of two firearms. One of those firearms was later allegedly used by Tanner Graap to shoot and kill 28-year-old Kayla M. Frank in Merrill on Jan. 18, 2022.
Graap was charged with first degree intentional homicide and first degree reckless homicide, among other related charges, on Jan. 19, 2022. That case is still ongoing, with a motion hearing scheduled for May 8 in Lincoln County Court. Graap is currently in custody at Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Dodge County.
Zastrow was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to one year plus one day in federal prison, followed by a three-year period of supervised release. As of this writing, Zastrow was in the Dane County Jail.
“On Jan. 13, 2022, Zastrow purchased two firearms in Wisconsin Rapids,” the release said. “In order to complete the purchase of these firearms, she represented that she was the actual buyer of these firearms when in fact she was not. An investigation by law enforcement revealed that she purchased these firearms for an individual who accompanied her to the store and provided her with cash at the time of purchase. This offense is known as a ‘straw purchase.’ The person Zastrow provided the firearms is prohibited by law from possessing firearms as a result of previous felony convictions and allegedly used one of the firearms purchased by Zastrow to commit a homicide.” During sentencing Zastrow, Judge Conley said “she made a ‘disastrous’ choice to transfer firearms to a prohibited person and could not ignore the fact that this choice contributed to a woman’s death.’”
Judge Conley added a prison sentence was warranted in light of Zastrow’s poor performance on pre-trial release and nominal efforts to confront her methamphetamine addiction, the release said.
“The charge against Zastrow was the result of an investigation conducted by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Merrill Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Marshfield Police Department,” the release said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor L. Kraus prosecuted the case, which is considered part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the U.S. Justice Department’s program to reduce violent crime, and involves collaboration by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent and deter gun violence.