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KAUKAUNA The investigators tasked with figuring outwho killed 5-year-old William Beyer and 3-year-old Danielle Beyer took a methodical approach from the start.
The two children, who were brother and sister, were found dead by police Feb. 17in the upper level of a duplex at 1201 Crooks Ave. But for months, police released few details to the public, repeatedly asking for patience as they examined the case.
After nearly four months, their efforts culminated in the arrest of Matthew Beyer,the biological father of both children. Beyer, a 35-year-old from Manitowoc, was arrested and booked at the Outagamie County Jail on the morning of June 5.
Matthew Beyer(Photo: Outagamie County Sheriff's Office)
On Wednesday, Beyer made his first appearance in court, where he was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the deaths of the two children. If convicted, Beyer could spend the rest of his life in prison. He appeared again in court onFriday, where his attorneys requested a preliminary hearing in the case. The hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on July 30.
The Kaukauna Police Department, with assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, led the exhaustive, time-consuming investigation that involved:
A June 4 interview with Beyer apparently promptedhis arrest. Eventually, Beyer admitted to investigators who were armed with other details tying him to the deaths of his children that he was inside his children's home only hours before they were found dead.
While Beyer didn't directly confess to the killings, the revelations about his presence at the scene of what a prosecutor later described as "extremely brutal" homicides were apparently enough for police to take him into custody and for prosecutors to charge him.
The criminal complaint filed against Beyer lays out the specifics of the investigation:
When a police officer arrived at 1201 Crooks Ave. shortly after 7 a.m. Feb. 17, Melissa Schuth, the children'smother, met him at the top of the stairs that led to the south-side entrance of the upper level of the duplex.
The report sent to police from emergency dispatchers was of two children not breathing in the house, with additional information indicating there was a hole in the sons neck, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesdayin Outagamie County.
Schuth let the police officer inside, then led him to the childrens room on the west side of the residence. When the police officer entered the room, he saw William, often called Will, on the floor between two beds and Danielle, often called Dani, on a bed, still partially covered in blankets.
There were no signs of life.
The children had noticeable injuries to their necks, which the police officer described as almost a hole, the complaint says. The police officer didnt find any signs of a forced entry.
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Schuth is the biological mother of both children, but her husband is not the biological father, though both lived at the residence with the children and were home at the time.
Schuth told investigators that she, her husband and her children had run a few errands late in the afternoon of Feb. 16 before they all returned home, but that they had been the only people at the residence that night.
When a detective notified Matthew Beyer, the biological father,of the deaths of his children, he noticed very little initial emotional response, the complaint says.
(The detective) has done many death notifications and found (Beyers) lack of emotion extremely unusual, especially because the death notification was about his two children, the complaint says.
Beyer and Schuth were involved in what had become a contentious family court case and did not have a good relationship with each other, the complaint says, and Beyer paid child support, but didnt have much contact with the children.
A document filed by the court in December indicates Schuth claimed Beyer would "periodically make the assertion that one or more of the children weren't his," and that the two of them argued over where to exchange the children.
Beyer claimed Schuth was "verbally abusive to him" and asked that she not be given his phone number. Beyer also claimed he was "afraid to take the children" because Schuth accused him of "harming the children or sexually assaulting them," the court document says.
"None of those accusations have ever resulted in charges," according to the court document, which was filed about two months before the children were found dead.
Schuth denied ever making such reports to Child Protective Services, the court document says.
The family court case was scheduled to have a review hearing on Feb. 17 the same day both children were found dead.
Authorities are responding to an incident in the 1200 block of Crooks Avenue at the intersection of East 12th Street on Monday, Feb. 17, 2020, in Kaukauna, Wis. Outagamie County Sheriff's Office officials said a call came in around 7:10 a.m.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
When Beyer spoke to investigators Feb. 17, he said he had been at home the entire night before, explaining that he couldnt sleep and stayed up all night long and he passed the time by rolling cigarettes and playing on his cell phone, the complaint says.
Beyer told investigators he stopped at a Kwik Trip in Manitowoc at 4:45 that morning, then went to work at Crescent Woolen Mills Co. in Two Rivers. He said his vehicle, which police determined was a silver 2006 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, hadnt been in Kaukauna since December.
Police used surveillance video from the Kwik Trip to confirm Beyer stopped to buy $20 worth of gas and put air in his vehicles tires. Beyer arrived at his job and clocked in about 5 that morning, the complaint says.
Investigators noticed during the interview that Beyers clothes were very dirty and there was grease all over his hands, along with a few cuts on his hands and a scratch on his forearm, the complaint says. Beyer said he got the injuries at work.
A detective took photographs of Beyers minivan and identified a few distinct features: a black piece of horizontal trim on both sides, a black luggage rack on the roof and a yellow bumper sticker on the back.
A neighbor who lived near 1201 Crooks Ave. saw a silver minivan park near the intersection of Main Avenue and 12th Street, a block away, about 3 a.m. Feb. 14. A man the witness described as about 6 feet tall and skinny, with dark clothes and a stocking cap, got out of the vehicle, walked around the block, got back in the vehicle and left.
Manitowoc police reviewed footage recorded by a traffic camera on Feb. 14 that shows a silver minivan leaving Beyers address, 411 N. 10th St., at 2:19 a.m., then returning at 4:23 a.m., the complaint says. A resident on Fieldcrest Drive in Kaukauna gave home surveillance video to investigators that showed a silver minivan driving east on Henry Street that same night.
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Police used footage from a home surveillance system on North10th St. in Manitowoc to determine a silver minivan left Beyers address about 1 a.m. Feb. 17 and traveled west toward Kaukauna, the complaint says.
"Officers observed the silver minivan with horizontal black trim traveling in the city of Kaukauna toward 1201 Crooks Ave.," the complaint says. "Officers then observed the silver minivan with horizontal black trim traveling away from 1201 Crooks Ave. at 3:10 a.m."
The minivan returned to Beyers address at 4 a.m. and drove up the driveway without headlights on, the complaint says.
The minivan avoided all major intersections and main roads in Kaukauna and did not take the most direct route out of Kaukauna, the complaint says.
Authorities respond to an incident in the 1200 block of Crooks Avenue at the intersection of East 12th Street on Feb. 17, 2020, in Kaukauna, Wis. Outagamie County Sheriff's Office officials said a call came in around 7:10 a.m.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Beyer was again interviewed by investigators June 4. He initially claimed he had only driven through Kaukauna several times in the past few years, but hasnt stopped, the complaint says. Beyer, though, eventually admitted he had been in Kaukauna multiple times in the days before and on Feb. 17.
Beyer claimed he couldnt sleep Feb. 14 because he had a bad feeling and was anxious and fearful, the complaint says.
He figured something bad was going to happen to one of his family members, the complaint says.
Beyer explained that he went to Kaukauna to check on his children, but only walked around the block and didnt go on the property. The next night, Feb. 15, Beyer claimed he went to bed about 8 p.m., but still had the bad feeling, the complaint says. He left about 1 a.m., drove to Kaukauna and parked the van across from 1201 Crooks Ave., walked around the block, but didnt go on the property.
Initially, Beyer claimed he had never been inside the duplex where the two children lived, but eventually admitted that on Feb. 17, he entered the residence.
"I was up those stairs," Beyer told an investigator, according to the complaint. "I used a card, a blue one, a library card, I think."
Beyer told investigators that he looked around and saw a light on in the kitchen, then looked in the childrens bedroom and saw both were asleep. A night light was on, and Beyer saw Danielle sleeping near the window, while William was closer to the door.
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He told a detective that Schuth's vehicle wasn't in the driveway and the porch light was on the first two times he drove to Kaukauna, "which told him that someone was gone and they were expecting them to come home," the complaint says.
"(Beyer) said the third time he drove to Kaukauna, the car was in the driveway and the porch light was out, which meant everyone was home," the complaint says.
A state investigator showed printed pictures of knives to Beyer, which led Beyer to admit he had a collection of decorative knives. He later admitted that a knife was missing from his collection. When an investigator showed him a photo of a knife that Beyers wife told police was missing, Beyer was able to identify it.
A memorial of stuffed animals sits outside the home where William Beyer, 5, and Danielle Beyer, 3, were found dead by police shortly after 7 a.m. Feb. 17.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
A friend of Beyers wife told investigators that, about a week after the children's deaths, that friend, Beyer's wife and Beyer were talking about who could have killed the children and Beyer described in graphic detail how he would have done it, the complaint says.
That same friend said Beyer was upset about paying child support because Schuth would not let him see the children and he did not even believe he was the father, the complaint says.
An autopsy conducted Feb. 18 at the Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office found Danielle suffered five sharp force injuries to the neck, while William suffered eight sharp force injuries to the neck and head, along with two cuts, one to his left thumb and on to his right pinky finger, the complaint says.
Contact Chris Mueller at920-996-7267 or cmueller@gannett.com. Follow himon Twitter at@AtChrisMueller.
Contact Andy Thompson at 920-996-7270 or awthompson@postcrescent,com. Follow him on Twitter at @Thompson_AW.
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Anatomy of a chilling case: The methodical investigation into the death of the young Beyer children in Kaukauna - Post-Crescent