Bembenek died in Portland, Oregan, where she was in hospice care, her sister, Colette Bembenek of South Milwaukee, said.
Bembenek, 52, who later changed her first name to Laurie, had been admitted to a hospital in recent days and then was transferred to a hospice, her sister said.
Her health problems included hepatitis C and liver and kidney failure, Colette Bembenek said.
"It went real fast. I'm glad she didn't linger," Colette Bembenek said.
"I knew it was inevitable that she probably would be expiring early in life."
Laurie Bembenek was the former Milwaukee police officer charged with killing her then-husband's ex-wife, Christine Schultz.
She was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life in prison, but that was far, far from the end of the story.
In 1990, with the help of fiance Dominic Gugliatto, the brother of another inmate, she escaped from Taycheedah Correctional Institution.
Laurie Bembenek Saga Comes To An End
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