Dennis Brantner Bound Over For Trial In Beck Murder Case

The 61-year-old Kenosha man suspected of the July 1990 murder of Berit Beck has been bound over for trial. Dennis Brantner was in Fond du Lac County Court for a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Sheriff’s Detective Nate LaMotte testified during the hearing about fingerprint evidence found in Beck’s van allegedly linking him to her murder. She was on her way to a training session for work in July of 1990 when she stopped in Fond du Lac. Her van was found in the former Kmart parking lot in Fond du Lac. Six weeks later her body was discovered in a ditch outside of Waupun. In addition to the fingerprints found in the van investigators also found cigarette ashes and Beck was not a smoker, but Brantner was a heavy smoker at the time. A fingerprint on a cellophane wrapper from a pack of cigarettes was among the fingerprints found in the van.