A stolen day care van and a homicide, two women charged in separate cases, each time their families tried to get them mental health help hours before their alleged crimes. Both cases share a common thread and highlight what advocates say is a growing problem across Wisconsin. Families are trying to get their loved ones mental health help, but simply can’t, and have nowhere to turn.A stolen day care van”She needs f—— help,” mother Christy Librizzi told police inside a mental health hospital in December. “I don’t know what you guys need to do to make this happen, but she needs to be somewhere. She’s going to hurt somebody or herself.”Body camera video provided by her mother and verified by 12 News Investigates shows Librizzi pleading for Wauwatosa officers to help her daughter while at a mental health facility in Wauwatosa.Librizzi pleads for Wauwatosa police to commit Katelyn, who’s been diagnosed as bipolar. After almost 50 minutes of banging on furniture, the ceiling and walls, standing on a desk and an office chair, she agrees to voluntarily stay at the facility.”I hold the earth,” she said at one point.”Right, but I don’t want you to fall,” an officer responds while she’s standing on a chair.”I will never fall,” she responded.Librizzi said her daughter voluntarily signed herself out of the facility the following day.”Do you think at that moment, in that hospital, she was in the right mind to make that decision?” Investigative Reporter James Stratton asked.”Absolutely not,” Librizzi responded.After her release, Librizzi said Katelyn showed up at her dad’s house and later went for a walk on Milwaukee’s northwest side. Prosecutors say she stole the van around 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 near Appleton and Burleigh with four kids inside. Milwaukee police stopped her roughly 13 minutes later near 60th and Burleigh and arrested her. The kids were unharmed.”My daughter is not a criminal,” she said. “In her normal state of mind, she would never have done anything like that.”Librizzi said she’s been trying to get her daughter mental health help for months, after she was diagnosed as bipolar in October. Previously, she had no mental health struggles, according to her mother. Wauwatosa police told 12 News and Librizzi that Katelyn did not meet the criteria to take someone to get involuntary emergency mental health help under the state’s law, Chapter 51.15.The law says a person must meet criteria that they are affected by mental illness, drug dependence, or are developmentally disabled, they must have “substantial probability” that they’re going to harm themselves or others, and are deemed treatable. Or, behavior by a recent act that shows they cannot satisfy their basic needs without prompt treatment “…serious physical injury, serious physical debilitation, or serious physical disease will imminently ensue unless the individual receives prompt and adequate treatment…” “Katelyn voluntarily admitted herself for in-patient mental health treatment, and her later release would have been at the discretion of Aurora staff,” Wauwatosa police said, in part, via email.”The system failed her,” Librizzi said in a previous interview with 12 News. “She needed help. She was in a place that could have given her help, and they couldn’t because of the law.” Librizzi is now on a mission to connect with other families caught in the same situation, including the family of Lauren Spors and Carrie Zettel.A mother killed hours after a call for helpOn Oct. 12, 2025, Milwaukee police responded to Carrie Zettel’s home near 23rd Street and West Ramsey Avenue in the early morning hours. Body-camera video shows officers responding to the home. Spors can be seen lying under a tarp in the front yard.Court records show Spors has schizophrenia. Her mother told police she has been staying in a hotel room for a few weeks, but keeps getting kicked out for being disorderly.”She doesn’t have a place to live,” Zettel told police from her front door. “She can’t live with me because she’s too violent. She tried breaking in.”Despite telling Milwaukee police she’s afraid of her daughter, officers never mention Chapter 51. “I’m worried about you, Lauren,” Body camera video shows Zettel telling her daughter on the phone while appearing to discuss mental health treatment options.”Thanks mom,” she responds.”Why didn’t you call me?” Zettel says.”I don’t know,” Spors responds.”Ah, honey, can you go to …?” Zettel says.Milwaukee police redacted the audio for medical privacy.”No, they wouldn’t let me go there either,” Spors says. Eventually, police and her mother agree on a hotel room. But, Zettel’s best friend tells 12 News Sports stayed in Zettel’s car that night because it was too late to get a hotel.Ten hours later, Zettel called that best friend, Loretta Moyer-Beaver.”Lauren was in the background like, ‘I’m going to f—– kill you! I’m going to kill you,'” she said. “I’m like, Carrie, you need to call the police.”Later that afternoon, a search warrant states Zettel called police, saying her daughter was “being violent.” When police got to her home, they found Zettel dead.Moyer-Beaver got there shortly after, she says.”When I got there, I said, ‘Is it Lauren or Carrie?’ They said, ‘It’s the mom,'” she recalls. “I just collapsed, my heart just broke.”Moyer-Beaver estimates they called for help maybe 100 times in the last few years. She says if officers had taken her under Chapter 51, “Carrie would be alive.””What does that say about our system?” Stratton asked.”That it needs to be fixed,” she responded. “The police need to be trained and it needs to be easier for them to make those calls.”Milwaukee police say a review of the response shows officers followed policy.”Based upon that review, it has been determined that the responding officers did not violate policy for either a mandatory arrest or an involuntary mental health detention,” MPD said in a statement via email. “While there is no indication that our officers’ conduct violated policy, MPD does recognize the horrific and tragic outcome and extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim.”An increase in similar situationsWisconsin’s National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, says they’re seeing an uptick in these types of calls.”It’s, I have called the provider, I’ve called law enforcement, I’ve called everyone I can think of, and no one will help my loved one,” said Mary Kay Battaglia, executive director of NAMI Wisconsin.In cases like the two involving Spors and Librizzi, only police can take someone in under Chapter 51.15. In Milwaukee County, a pilot program allows a physician from the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division can also make the determination. However, police have to first take the person to the Milwaukee County Mental Health Emergency Center.Nami would like to see mental health professionals across the state be added to be able to commit someone under Chapter 51. Plus, they are looking at changing the word “imminently” from the law.”If that person seems fine for that ten or 15 minutes, the law enforcement officer is there,” Battaglia said. “That makes it difficult to assess the situation as imminent.”NAMI has a working group of mental health professionals, lawyers, judges, law enforcement and families looking to change the mental health law.”All of our viewpoint is there needs to be improvement, and we need to discuss how we can improve that system,” she said.Tracking cases is difficult No one tracks the number of police acceptance or denials for Chapter 51, according to NAMI Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services tracks the number of people accepted or denied into Winnebago Mental Health Institution, which is where most departments take someone for help. However, the numbers they track are for all of Chapter 51.In 2025, DHS took in 2,691 Wisconsinites.In 2024, DHS took in 3,148 Wisconsinites.In 2023, DHS took in 3502 Wisconsinites.In 2022, DHS took in 4,029 WisconsinitesIn 202, DHS took in 3,136 Wisconsinites.12 News Investigates requested the number from Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services, but were told BHS does not track law enforcement decisions for emergency detention.
A stolen day care van and a homicide, two women charged in separate cases, each time their families tried to get them mental health help hours before their alleged crimes.
Both cases share a common thread and highlight what advocates say is a growing problem across Wisconsin. Families are trying to get their loved ones mental health help, but simply can’t, and have nowhere to turn.
A stolen day care van
“She needs f—— help,” mother Christy Librizzi told police inside a mental health hospital in December. “I don’t know what you guys need to do to make this happen, but she needs to be somewhere. She’s going to hurt somebody or herself.”
Body camera video provided by her mother and verified by 12 News Investigates shows Librizzi pleading for Wauwatosa officers to help her daughter while at a mental health facility in Wauwatosa.
Librizzi pleads for Wauwatosa police to commit Katelyn, who’s been diagnosed as bipolar. After almost 50 minutes of banging on furniture, the ceiling and walls, standing on a desk and an office chair, she agrees to voluntarily stay at the facility.
“I hold the earth,” she said at one point.
“Right, but I don’t want you to fall,” an officer responds while she’s standing on a chair.
“I will never fall,” she responded.
Librizzi said her daughter voluntarily signed herself out of the facility the following day.
“Do you think at that moment, in that hospital, she was in the right mind to make that decision?” Investigative Reporter James Stratton asked.
“Absolutely not,” Librizzi responded.
After her release, Librizzi said Katelyn showed up at her dad’s house and later went for a walk on Milwaukee’s northwest side. Prosecutors say she stole the van around 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 near Appleton and Burleigh with four kids inside. Milwaukee police stopped her roughly 13 minutes later near 60th and Burleigh and arrested her. The kids were unharmed.
“My daughter is not a criminal,” she said. “In her normal state of mind, she would never have done anything like that.”
Librizzi said she’s been trying to get her daughter mental health help for months, after she was diagnosed as bipolar in October. Previously, she had no mental health struggles, according to her mother.
Wauwatosa police told 12 News and Librizzi that Katelyn did not meet the criteria to take someone to get involuntary emergency mental health help under the state’s law, Chapter 51.15.
The law says a person must meet criteria that they are affected by mental illness, drug dependence, or are developmentally disabled, they must have “substantial probability” that they’re going to harm themselves or others, and are deemed treatable. Or, behavior by a recent act that shows they cannot satisfy their basic needs without prompt treatment “…serious physical injury, serious physical debilitation, or serious physical disease will imminently ensue unless the individual receives prompt and adequate treatment…”
“Katelyn voluntarily admitted herself for in-patient mental health treatment, and her later release would have been at the discretion of Aurora staff,” Wauwatosa police said, in part, via email.
“The system failed her,” Librizzi said in a previous interview with 12 News. “She needed help. She was in a place that could have given her help, and they couldn’t because of the law.”
Librizzi is now on a mission to connect with other families caught in the same situation, including the family of Lauren Spors and Carrie Zettel.
A mother killed hours after a call for help
On Oct. 12, 2025, Milwaukee police responded to Carrie Zettel’s home near 23rd Street and West Ramsey Avenue in the early morning hours. Body-camera video shows officers responding to the home. Spors can be seen lying under a tarp in the front yard.
Court records show Spors has schizophrenia. Her mother told police she has been staying in a hotel room for a few weeks, but keeps getting kicked out for being disorderly.
“She doesn’t have a place to live,” Zettel told police from her front door. “She can’t live with me because she’s too violent. She tried breaking in.”
Despite telling Milwaukee police she’s afraid of her daughter, officers never mention Chapter 51.
“I’m worried about you, Lauren,” Body camera video shows Zettel telling her daughter on the phone while appearing to discuss mental health treatment options.
“Thanks mom,” she responds.
“Why didn’t you call me?” Zettel says.
“I don’t know,” Spors responds.
“Ah, honey, can you go to …?” Zettel says.
Milwaukee police redacted the audio for medical privacy.
“No, they wouldn’t let me go there either,” Spors says.
Eventually, police and her mother agree on a hotel room. But, Zettel’s best friend tells 12 News Sports stayed in Zettel’s car that night because it was too late to get a hotel.
Ten hours later, Zettel called that best friend, Loretta Moyer-Beaver.
“Lauren was in the background like, ‘I’m going to f—– kill you! I’m going to kill you,'” she said. “I’m like, Carrie, you need to call the police.”
Later that afternoon, a search warrant states Zettel called police, saying her daughter was “being violent.” When police got to her home, they found Zettel dead.
Moyer-Beaver got there shortly after, she says.
“When I got there, I said, ‘Is it Lauren or Carrie?’ They said, ‘It’s the mom,'” she recalls. “I just collapsed, my heart just broke.”
Moyer-Beaver estimates they called for help maybe 100 times in the last few years. She says if officers had taken her under Chapter 51, “Carrie would be alive.”
“What does that say about our system?” Stratton asked.
“That it needs to be fixed,” she responded. “The police need to be trained and it needs to be easier for them to make those calls.”
Milwaukee police say a review of the response shows officers followed policy.
“Based upon that review, it has been determined that the responding officers did not violate policy for either a mandatory arrest or an involuntary mental health detention,” MPD said in a statement via email. “While there is no indication that our officers’ conduct violated policy, MPD does recognize the horrific and tragic outcome and extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim.”
An increase in similar situations
Wisconsin’s National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, says they’re seeing an uptick in these types of calls.
“It’s, I have called the provider, I’ve called law enforcement, I’ve called everyone I can think of, and no one will help my loved one,” said Mary Kay Battaglia, executive director of NAMI Wisconsin.
In cases like the two involving Spors and Librizzi, only police can take someone in under Chapter 51.15. In Milwaukee County, a pilot program allows a physician from the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division can also make the determination. However, police have to first take the person to the Milwaukee County Mental Health Emergency Center.
Nami would like to see mental health professionals across the state be added to be able to commit someone under Chapter 51. Plus, they are looking at changing the word “imminently” from the law.
“If that person seems fine for that ten or 15 minutes, the law enforcement officer is there,” Battaglia said. “That makes it difficult to assess the situation as imminent.”
NAMI has a working group of mental health professionals, lawyers, judges, law enforcement and families looking to change the mental health law.
“All of our viewpoint is there needs to be improvement, and we need to discuss how we can improve that system,” she said.
Tracking cases is difficult
No one tracks the number of police acceptance or denials for Chapter 51, according to NAMI Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services tracks the number of people accepted or denied into Winnebago Mental Health Institution, which is where most departments take someone for help. However, the numbers they track are for all of Chapter 51.
In 2025, DHS took in 2,691 Wisconsinites.
In 2024, DHS took in 3,148 Wisconsinites.
In 2023, DHS took in 3502 Wisconsinites.
In 2022, DHS took in 4,029 Wisconsinites
In 202, DHS took in 3,136 Wisconsinites.
12 News Investigates requested the number from Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services, but were told BHS does not track law enforcement decisions for emergency detention.
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