Fingerprints From Deformed Hand Led To Suspect In Berit Beck's 1990 Homicide

Fingerprints in a soda cup and a booklet found in the victims van led police to the suspect nearly 25 years later who at the time was a trucker and lived near Fond du Lac.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 27, 2015

Fond du Lac, WI - On Friday, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office announced in a press release that Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office Detectives Nate LaMotte and Pete Vergos arrested Dennis J. Brantner, 61,  for the 1990 homicide of Berit Beck, 18, of Sturtevant. Brantner was taken into custody without incident, on Friday at approximately 11:36 a.m. in the City of Kenosha on an arrest warrant for one felony count for first-degree murder. Brantner was transported to the Fond du Lac County Jail. The 

Kenosha Police Department and Kenosha County Sheriff's Office assisted with the arrest.
The Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office have scheduled a press conference on Monday.
Berit Beck's family has been notified of Brantner's arrest. Berit's parents Dave and Diane, their son Ben, and the Beck family have issued the following statement:
"We are encouraged and relieved for this day to have arrived for Berit and our family. We request that our privacy be respected as this process unfolds."

Berit disappeared on July 17, 1990, her van was found two days later and her body was discovered four weeks later in a Waupun ditch. She had been strangled and suffocated to death, according to an autopsy.

The murder suspect had a deformed hand, according to homicide investigators.