The chief prosecutor in Fond du Lac County says he would be willing to retry Dennis Brantner in the murder of Berit Beck.
The jury in the first trial was dismissed last week, after it was unable to reach a verdict on charges that the 62-year-old Brantner killed the 18-year-old Beck in 1990.
Beck was traveling to Appleton for a work seminar from her home in Sturtevant when she disappeared. Her van was found several days later in a Fond du Lac parking lot, and then her body was later found in a ditch near Waupun about six weeks later. Brantner’s fingerprints were found inside Beck’s van.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says the prosecution team and the investigative team is “willing and ready” to retry the case. However, he says they will need to evaluate the court record and talk with the Beck family some more before any decisions are made. “There hasn’t been any official decision made, other than some conversations internally with our team.”
A status conference on how to proceed with the case against Brantner has not yet been scheduled.
Contributed by KFIZ