In Little Chute, Rudolf Knapp faces four charges after police say a woman was choked in a Little Chute home.
LITTLE CHUTE, Wis. — A Wisconsin man accused of choking his girlfriend during a late-night argument in Little Chute entered the court process April 7 with a $500,000 cash bond set in Outagamie County.
Rudolf Knapp, 59, was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, strangulation, substantial battery and disorderly conduct after police responded to a residence in the 1500 block of Vandenbroek Road. The case began with a disturbance call, but prosecutors filed the most serious charge after investigators said the woman reported losing consciousness while Knapp’s hands were around her neck. A preliminary hearing date was not immediately set in early reports. The hearing, when scheduled, will be the next point at which prosecutors outline why they believe the felony case should continue.
The legal case rests on events that police say unfolded late Sunday. Fox Valley Metro officers were sent to the home at about 11:45 p.m. after the woman’s son called for help. The boy told dispatchers his mother was screaming and said an unknown man was choking her. Dispatchers then heard screams in the background and lost the boy’s answers to their questions. That call placed police on the way before officers had names, charges or a full account. By the time they arrived, the man had left. The woman remained at the home with injuries to her face and neck.
The woman’s first contact with officers was limited by the presence of her son. Police said she was holding frozen food to her right eye and had a bloody mouth and red marks on her neck. She did not want to describe the incident in front of the child, and she first declined medical treatment. A friend later took her to a hospital. During the hospital interview, the woman said she and Knapp were in bed eating gelato when they began to argue. She said she could not remember what the argument was about. She remembered Knapp on top of her, with his hands around the front of her neck, cutting off her ability to breathe or speak.
Her account became the basis for the attempted homicide allegation. She told investigators she went in and out of consciousness and believed she was going to die. She also said she wanted Knapp arrested so she could “feel safe.” The son later told police he had heard a commotion, went into the bedroom and saw a man he did not know on top of his mother. He yelled at the man, asking who he was and what he was doing there. Police said the man, later identified as Knapp, put on his coat and drove away in a Mercedes-Benz before officers reached the residence.
The complaint describes a second phase after Knapp left the home. Police said the woman allowed them to review her phone, where they found messages from Knapp that she did not answer. 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.” Investigators said the messages included threats that he would take his own life. Police also spoke with a friend of Knapp who said Knapp had admitted to the assault and made suicidal comments. Officers tried to contact Knapp at his home, but he did not answer the door.
Knapp later went to the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office and gave a different account. Police said he reported that he had been drugged and assaulted. He claimed the woman gave him hydroxyzine to help with anxiety after they attended church on Easter. He also claimed she put Xanax in a soda. Knapp told officers that once they were in bed, the woman swung a box cutter or razor blade at him while yelling about child custody. He said he “had no other option” but to strangle her because she was going to kill him. Investigators said cuts on his body were not consistent with the struggle he described.
Those conflicting accounts will shape the court record as the case develops. Prosecutors are likely to point to the woman’s description of being unable to breathe, the child’s call, the visible injuries, the phone messages and the friend’s account. The defense may focus on Knapp’s claims that he was attacked first, his statements about being hurt and any physical marks on his body. During questioning, Knapp denied that he was trying to kill the woman. “I just wanted her to stop hurting me,” he said, according to the complaint. He also called himself “a monster” and spoke about mental health struggles.
At the initial appearance, the $500,000 cash bond set the terms for Knapp’s release while the felony case was pending. Cash bond requires the full amount to be posted before release. The complaint does not list a preliminary hearing date in the early reports, and local coverage said one was not immediately set. Knapp is presumed innocent unless convicted. Attempted first-degree intentional homicide is the lead count, but the strangulation and battery charges give prosecutors additional paths tied to the injuries and the alleged act of choking. Disorderly conduct covers the alleged disturbance that brought police to the home.
The Fox Valley Metro Police Department framed the case as a serious violence investigation. Lt. Mark Wery said violence causes physical and emotional harm and undermines the safety of individuals and families. The department said it would investigate reports thoroughly to seek accountability and protect victims. The statement came as the public version of the case moved from a brief police report of an attack to a detailed criminal complaint describing a bedroom argument, a child witness, medical treatment and disputed claims about drugs and self-defense. Authorities have not publicly named the woman or her son.
The case now sits in Outagamie County court, where the next scheduled proceeding will determine how quickly the charges move forward. Police have said the woman was released from the hospital, and prosecutors must next present the case through the normal felony process.
Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.