Police say a Little Chute bedroom argument turned violent while a woman was eating gelato.

LITTLE CHUTE, Wis. — A 59-year-old Appleton man was charged after police say he strangled his girlfriend in a Little Chute home late Sunday while her son called dispatchers to report that she was screaming for help.

Rudolf Knapp is facing charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, strangulation, substantial battery and disorderly conduct in Outagamie County. Police said the case began as a disturbance call but grew into an attempted homicide investigation after officers spoke with the woman, her son and Knapp. The woman told police she could not breathe or speak during the attack and believed she was going to die. Knapp later told investigators he acted in self-defense, but police said parts of his account did not match the injuries and statements collected in the case.

The first public record of the case was not a courtroom filing but a frightened call from inside the home. Police said officers with the Fox Valley Metro Police Department were sent to a residence in the 1500 block of Vandenbroek Road at about 11:45 p.m. Sunday. According to the criminal complaint, the call came from the woman’s son, who told dispatchers that his mother was “screaming for help.” He also said an unknown man was choking her. Dispatchers then heard screaming in the background as the boy stopped answering questions. When officers arrived, Knapp had already left. The woman was still at the home, injured and shaken, and officers began sorting through a scene that had moved quickly from a private argument to a police response.

Officers said the woman was holding a bag of frozen food against her right eye when they reached the home. They reported seeing a bloody mouth and red marks on her neck. The woman did not want to talk about the attack in front of her son, according to the complaint, and she first declined medical treatment. A friend later took her to a hospital, where she gave police a fuller account. She said she and Knapp had been in bed eating gelato when they began arguing. She told investigators she did not remember what started the argument, but she remembered Knapp on top of her with his hands around the front of her neck. She said she went in and out of consciousness and “thought she was going to die.”

The son’s statement gave police another view of the same minutes. He told officers he heard noise from his mother’s bedroom and then heard her screaming. He went to the room and saw a man, later identified as Knapp, on top of her. The boy said he yelled at Knapp, asking what he was doing in the house and who he was. Police said Knapp then put on his coat and left in a Mercedes-Benz before officers arrived. The complaint does not say the son knew Knapp before that night. The woman later told police she wanted Knapp arrested so she could “feel safe.” Police said she was treated at a hospital and later released.

Investigators also reviewed messages Knapp allegedly sent after leaving the home. Police said the woman allowed officers to look at her phone, which showed several unanswered texts from Knapp. In one, he wrote that he did not know how he had lost control and called himself “evil and sick.” In another, he thanked her for “one last good day.” The complaint says Knapp also made threats to take his own life. Police spoke with one of Knapp’s friends, who said Knapp had admitted to the assault and made suicidal comments. Officers went to Knapp’s home, but he did not answer the door, according to the complaint.

Knapp later went to the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office and reported that he had been drugged and assaulted, police said. When questioned, he said the woman had given him hydroxyzine after they attended church on Easter and claimed she also put Xanax in a soda. He told officers the woman swung a box cutter or razor blade at him while yelling about custody of her children. Knapp said he “had no other option” but to strangle her because she was going to kill him. Investigators said they questioned him about cuts on his body and told him the injuries were not consistent with the struggle described by him or the woman.

During the interview, police said Knapp gave conflicting statements about what happened and about his state of mind. He said, “I just wanted her to stop hurting me. I was just so tired of being hurt by everybody,” according to the complaint. In another exchange, he called himself “a monster” and said he had never been a bad person. Police said Knapp denied trying to kill the woman, but investigators continued to treat the case as an attempted homicide because of the woman’s account, the reported loss of consciousness, the neck injuries and the statements gathered after the incident. The complaint does not say police found a weapon in the bed or recovered the alleged drink.

Knapp made an initial court appearance April 7, when a $500,000 cash bond was set. At the time of early local reports, a preliminary hearing had not been immediately scheduled. The charges place the case in the felony track in Outagamie County, where prosecutors would next need to show enough evidence for the case to continue. Attempted first-degree intentional homicide is the most serious count listed against Knapp. The other charges are tied to the same alleged attack and the injuries police said they saw on the woman after the call.

Lt. Mark Wery of the Fox Valley Metro Police Department said the department treats reports of violence with seriousness because of the physical and emotional harm they cause. “Violence is never acceptable,” Wery said, adding that the department investigates reports thoroughly to seek accountability and protect victims. The case also left police with the words of a child who called for help from inside the home and the account of a woman who told investigators that a quiet night in bed shifted within seconds into a struggle to breathe. Authorities have not released the woman’s name.

Knapp remained in custody after his arrest as the case moved into Outagamie County court. The next major step was the scheduling of further proceedings, including any preliminary hearing, where prosecutors would outline the evidence they say supports the felony charges.

Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.