Town of Day couple diesin‘tragicaccident’

Pair were electrocuted while burning patterns in wood

A town of Day couple died April 6 after they were electrocuted while using a repurposed microwave power supply to burn decorative, fractal patterns into a piece of wood, Marathon County Sheriff’s Department officials said in a Thursday afternoon press conference in

Wausau. Chief Deputy Chad Billeb said Rangeline Rd. residents Tanya Rodriquez, 44, and James Carolfi, 52, died as a result of fractal wood burning and that a mishap in their project caused a garage fire that spread to their house. He confirmed that the couple died prior to the fire.

The chief deputy said the sheriff’s department, which initially investigated the double fatality as a homicide, only last week Wednesday was able to identify the deceased through DNA samples sent to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab in Madison. He said detectives were able to conclude that the death was due to fractal burning after learning from state law enforcement officials that there have been other similar accidental deaths in Wisconsin. Fractal burning is a process where electrodes are placed on different ends of a piece of wood slathered in a baking soda and water solution. The electricity between the electrodes burn fractal or tree-branch looking patterns into the wood. Internet advice sites tell people to use devices dedicated to fractal burning, not to use other power sources.

Billeb emphasized the danger of attempting to do fractal burning with homemade equipment.

“Nobody should be doing this without the proper equipment,” he said. “It is highly dangerous.”

Lt. Steve Denovi told the press conference that the repurposed microwave power supply used by Rodriquez and Carolfi was rated at five amps and 2,200 volts.

“Five amps is more than enough to cause death,” he said.

Billeb praised local fire departments, including the Stratford, Edgar, Mosinee and Marshfield departments, for their fire-fighting and EMS response to what he called “a tragic accident.”

Billeb said the fire was called in either by a neighbor or motorist who notified the county dispatch center.