Jessie Blodgett Murder: Teen Actress, Found Strangled In Bed

A teenaged actress in Hartford, Wis., was found dead in her bed last week with strangle marks around her neck after a cast party.

Hartford police have now announced they are investigating the death of Jessie Blodgett, 19, as a homicide, WISN 12 reported Monday.

Blodgett went to a cast party for a local production of "Fiddler on the Roof" on July 14, returning to the home she shared with her parents at about 1 a.m. July 15.

Her mother told police she briefly went into her daughter's room at about 8 a.m. that same day and did not notice anything wrong. When she stopped home after work around noon, she went into the bedroom and noticed her daughter was dead, according to WITI.

Investigators noted a ligature mark around Blodgett's neck, but no rope or cord anywhere nearby that could have caused the mark.

Police have interviewed a 46-year-old man -- whose name has not been released --seen at the cast party with Blodgett sitting in his lap, according to an affidavit obtained by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The man told an investigator "his girlfriend would be upset if she knew about his behavior with a 19-year-old girl," the affidavit states.

Authorities have filed warrants to search his cell phone records, along with Blodgett's.

"Fiddler on the Roof" director Jerry Becker told WDJT he and the rest of the cast were "in shock" over Blodgett's death.

He remarked on the talent and promise of the teen, who was a student at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

"She had her own private teaching studio. She had 28 students on piano and on violin and on voice. She was an amazing actress. Very full of life."

An official cause of Blodgett's death has not been determined.