NEENAH (NBC 26) — A 54-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for a 2024 homicide in Neenah, court records show.
Rodney Franklin was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of extended supervision.
Franklin also received a five-year sentence on a count of theft by moving a corpse, which will be served concurrently with the life sentence.
A jury found Franklin guilty in May of first-degree intentional homicide and theft by moving a corpse after a three-day trial.
Franklin was charged in 2025 after authorities found Keith Rieskamp during a welfare check Nov. 24, 2024, near Shattuck Park in Neenah. Rieskamp, who was homeless and staying in a shed behind Franklin’s apartment building, was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
According to the complaint, investigators found Rieskamp with severe facial injuries and discovered a brick with what appeared to be blood nearby. Search warrants at Franklin’s apartment uncovered items belonging to the victim and suspected blood evidence.
An autopsy determined Rieskamp died from multiple blunt force injuries and hypothermia. DNA testing later linked both Franklin and the victim to the brick, and the victim’s DNA was also found on a shoe inside Franklin’s apartment, according to the complaint.
