News 06.16.16
16 June 2016 News
A former Fond du lac police detective testified he has no idea what happened to certain pieces of evidence in the murder of a Sturdevant teenager in Fond du Lac. Dennis Brantner is on trial in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court charged with first degree murder in the death of 18 year old Berit Beck. Beck disappeared after stopping at the Forest Mall in July 1990. Former Fond du Lac police detective Milt Swantz testified that all of the evidence collected was photographed, sealed in bags and labeled and has no knowledge of how certain things went missing. One of the missing items is a red shirt with the back cut out. Beck’s body was found in a roadside ditch near Waupun, with a piece of red cloth tied over her mouth.
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A post office in Fond Du Lac is named in honor of a World War II Army veteran. A crowd of 100 veterans, family and friends gathered at the post office Tuesday to honor 99-year-old Lt. Col James Megellas, who served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during WWII. Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service, the military and the city were also at the ceremony. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., introduced a bill last July to rename the post office after Megellas, who is a Fond Du Lac native and currently lives in Texas.
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West Bend police say a 6-year-old girl has died after she was pulled from a pond during a family outing over the weekend. The police department says on its Facebook page that Swannie Her was pronounced dead Tuesday at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. Police say the child was found unresponsive in Regner Park swimming pond shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday. A swimmer who is not a member of the girl’s family found her, carried her to shore and called for help. CPR was performed, and the girl was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital before being transferred to Children’s Hospital. The girl’s death remains under investigation. But police say it appears to be an accidental drowning.
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Authorities say they have busted a heroin ring in southeastern Wisconsin. U.S. Attorney for Eastern Wisconsin Gregory Haanstad said Tuesday that 18 people have been charged in a federal indictment with conspiring to distribute heroin. Earlier Tuesday, federal, state and local law agencies arrested 17 of the defendants in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Chicago. One of the defendants remains at large. Agents also executed search warrants in the Milwaukee and Kenosha areas, seizing heroin and cocaine, 16 firearms and about $150,000 in cash. Haanstad says Milwaukee is seeing a heroin epidemic, and the investigation is part of a collaborative effort by law enforcement to crack down on the problem. Investigative agencies included the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Milwaukee Police Department and the Wisconsin High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
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Gov. Scott Walker’s approval rating has dropped in a new Marquette University Law School poll. The poll released Wednesday shows Walker’s approval at 39 percent, down from 43 percent in March just before Wisconsin’s presidential primary. Walker’s approval rating first fell below 40 percent nearly a year ago, just before he dropped out of the Republican race for president. His numbers are better than either remaining presidential candidate. The poll shows 58 percent have an unfavorable view of Democrat Hillary Clinton and 64 percent unfavorable for Trump. Only 37 percent have a favorable view of Clinton, while it’s just 26 percent for Trump. The Marquette Law School Poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday, sampling 800 registered Wisconsin voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 points.
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