Rodolfo Gonzalez is accused of killing his mother before setting several fires inside her New London apartment in July.

WAUPACA, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge has ordered a mental competency evaluation for a 39-year-old man accused of killing his mother and setting several fires inside her apartment, putting the criminal case on a different track less than three weeks after prosecutors filed a first-degree intentional homicide charge.

The order came after an attorney for Rodolfo Gonzalez raised concerns about his ability to understand the proceedings and assist in his defense. Judge Troy Nielsen ordered competency proceedings and removed an Aug. 17 preliminary hearing from the calendar. Gonzalez remains jailed on a $1 million cash bond while the court addresses that question. The evaluation does not determine whether Gonzalez committed the crimes alleged against him. Instead, it addresses whether he is presently able to participate in the criminal case. The issue carries added weight because Gonzalez had previously been found not competent to proceed in a separate attempted-homicide case involving the same woman.

The current case began July 26 at the Franklin Park Apartments on Division Street in New London. Firefighters were called after smoke was reported at the building and traced the problem to a fifth-floor unit. Inside, emergency personnel found a woman unresponsive on a bed and extinguished multiple fires. Investigators later reported that at least three separate fires appeared to have been set in the apartment. The woman, identified in court records as Gonzalez’s mother but not publicly named in the reports reviewed for this article, had suffered numerous sharp-force injuries. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene.

The criminal complaint describes evidence that investigators say changed what initially appeared to be a fire response into a homicide investigation. Authorities observed wounds to the woman’s upper chest and neck, while cat litter had been found around her head. One fire had been started on the bed near her body, according to investigators. An autopsy later concluded that she died from multiple sharp-force injuries to the neck. Investigators also reported that no soot was found in her lungs and no carbon monoxide was detected in her blood, findings they said showed she had died before the fires began. Prosecutors allege the fires were then set in an effort to conceal the killing.

Building surveillance became another part of the investigation. According to the criminal complaint, video showed Gonzalez on the fifth floor around the time authorities believe the fires were set. Law enforcement officers later located him sitting on a bench near an elementary school. Authorities said he resisted when officers tried to take him into custody, prompting deputies to use additional restraints. Investigators reported recovering two lighters from Gonzalez as well as a Bible. Other reporting based on the complaint said multiple cellphones and additional items were recovered from him or the area nearby. The existence of those items does not itself establish how the woman died, and the allegations against Gonzalez have not been proven in court.

The charges filed in Waupaca County include first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, arson of a building, mutilating a corpse and resisting or obstructing an officer. The homicide charge is the most serious allegation, but the arson and corpse-mutilation counts reflect prosecutors’ theory that events continued after the woman had already died. Investigators have not publicly identified a motive in the reports reviewed for this story. Gonzalez has not been convicted of the new charges, and the pending competency proceedings must be resolved before the ordinary course of the prosecution can continue.

The competency question is especially significant because of a separate case dating to Feb. 23, 2025. Court records cited in the criminal complaint show that Gonzalez had already been charged in Outagamie County with attempted first-degree intentional homicide involving the same victim. Authorities alleged in that case that Gonzalez attacked his mother and another man with a rock and a knife. He was later found not mentally competent to proceed to trial. That finding suspended the criminal proceedings rather than resolving the allegations on their merits. Competency is a legal determination focused on a defendant’s present ability to understand a case and work with counsel, not a decision about guilt or innocence.

Records from the earlier case also show that Gonzalez’s release from custody was approved at a May 7 hearing, subject to conditions that included cooperation with treatment and evaluations. In a June 4 court filing, Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis raised concerns about how those conditions could be monitored. She wrote that Criminal Justice Treatment Services was unwilling to accept the case for services because the criminal matter was suspended and Gonzalez was not on bond. Tempelis argued that signed releases were needed so the court could monitor compliance with conditions and reconsider his competency. Her filing also distinguished competency to stand trial from a person’s ability to manage ordinary daily activities and comply with basic requirements.

Those earlier proceedings now form part of the background to the new competency review, but they do not establish the outcome of the present evaluation. A person previously found incompetent may later be found competent, and a new court must address the defendant’s current condition based on the evidence before it. If Gonzalez is found competent, the Waupaca County prosecution can resume with hearings addressing the charges and evidence. If he is found not competent, the criminal case could remain on hold while the court follows Wisconsin procedures governing treatment and possible restoration of competency. The reports reviewed for this article did not provide a completed evaluation or a new preliminary-hearing date.

The forensic findings are likely to remain central whenever the case moves forward. Investigators say the autopsy established the order of events by showing that the victim had died before the apartment fires were started. That conclusion is important to prosecutors’ allegation that the fires were deliberately set after the killing rather than causing the death themselves. The surveillance footage and the items recovered at Gonzalez’s arrest are additional pieces of circumstantial evidence described by investigators. What evidence will ultimately be admitted, how the defense will respond and whether prosecutors will alter any charges remain questions for later proceedings.

The case also presents two separate legal records involving the same accused man and the same alleged victim. The earlier Outagamie County case had already been suspended after a competency finding when the July death occurred. The new Waupaca County charges therefore arrived against an existing record of unresolved attempted-homicide allegations and court-ordered conditions. Prosecutors have cited that history in describing the relationship between the cases, but Gonzalez retains the presumption of innocence in both matters. A prior accusation is not proof that he committed the July homicide, and the new prosecution must stand on evidence presented in the current case.

As of Aug. 30, Gonzalez remained reported in custody on a $1 million cash bond, and the competency process had displaced the preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for Aug. 17. No motive for the woman’s death had been publicly established in the sources reviewed, and no later court ruling on Gonzalez’s competency was located. The next major development is expected to depend on the evaluation and the judge’s determination of whether Gonzalez can presently proceed in the Waupaca County criminal case.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 30, 2026.