Day 3 of testimony in Matthew Beyer trial touches on surveillance video, DNA evidence
Surveillance video from businesses, traffic cameras and residences captured Matthew Beyer's vehicle traveling from his home in Manitowoc to Kaukauna, then back to Manitowoc, the nights before and of his children's murders in February 2020.
In court Tuesday, the jury was shown the surveillance footage, compiled into three videos — one for each date Beyer's vehicle made the trip: Feb. 14, Feb. 16 and Feb. 17. Around 7 a.m. Feb. 17, 5-year-old William Beyer and 3-year-old Danielle Beyer were found dead in their shared bedroom at 1201½ Crooks Ave. in Kaukauna.
Beyer, 38, is on trial to determine if he's guilty of killing the children. The trial is expected to extend well into next week.
The children, who went by Will and Dani, lived in the upper level of a duplex, with their mother, Melissa Schuth, and stepfather, Tyler Schuth. Beyer was arrested in June 2020 after he admitted to police that he broke into the Schuths' apartment and was inside Will's and Dani's apartment the night of their deaths — despite previously telling investigators he had only driven through Kaukauna a few times in recent years but never stopped.
Testimony about the surveillance footage of Beyer's vehicle came from Katie McCoy, a forensic imaging specialist at the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory in Milwaukee. McCoy put together video timelines of Beyer's vehicle traveling from Manitowoc to Kaukauna and back during the night hours of Feb. 14, 16 and 17, 2020.
Beyer's vehicle was identified as a silver Chrysler Town & Country minivan with a black stripe along the bottom. On Feb. 14, 2020, the vehicle left Beyer's residence in Manitowoc around 2:19 a.m., traveled to Kaukauna, and returned at 4:23 a.m. On Feb. 16, 2020, the vehicle took a similar trip from Manitowoc to Kaukauna and back, from 3:05 a.m. to 5:21 a.m.
On Feb. 17, the day the children were found killed, Beyer's vehicle was recorded leaving Manitowoc just before 1 a.m., and passing Fieldcrest Drive in Kaukauna, headed in the direction of the Schuth's apartment, at 1:48 a.m. It was then recorded driving in Kaukauna again at 3:05 a.m. and returning to Manitowoc just before 4 a.m.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Amber Gratz noted that none of the surveillance video was clear enough to see who was driving the minivan.
Besides McCoy, two other people from the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory in Milwaukee testified Tuesday morning: crime scene response specialists Julieanne Avila and Natalie Fischer.
Avila testified about the process of documenting the crime scene and checking the apartment for evidence. She said she used Amido Black, a chemical that allows forensic investigators to find blood remnants that aren't visible to the naked eye, on numerous areas of the apartment.
Avila said the Amido Black showed three "swipe marks" along the wall of the stairs leading to the apartment, as if someone wiped their hand on the wall. However, she said there's no way to tell when the "swipe marks" were made, and Amido Black can in some cases pick up remnants of blood from weeks prior.
Fischer, who worked on the case as a DNA analyst, said she tested more than 100 items in the case for DNA evidence. No DNA from Beyer was found at the apartment.
As a stipulation agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense team, the jury was informed Tuesday morning that Beyer was present in the children's bedroom the night of their murders and said he may have touched a blanket on Dani's bed. Fischer testified that DNA evidence isn't always left behind by a person on surfaces they touch — particularly if they wore gloves when touching something, or if they only briefly touched a surface.
Ten witnesses testified in court Tuesday. In the afternoon, the jury heard testimonies from Will's kindergarten teacher, his school counselor, Will's and Dani's godmother and more members of law enforcement who had roles in the investigation.
Manitowoc Police Det. Sgt. Michael Stone said he reviewed surveillance footage from the Kwik Trip about two blocks from Beyer's apartment in which Beyer could be seen filling his vehicle with gas around 4:45 a.m. the morning of Feb. 17, before he reported to work around 5 a.m.
Stone also said he was the one to notify Beyer's then-wife that Will and Dani had died, and testified that in his experience, the typical response to a death notification of a loved one involves repeated questions about what happened — which was how Beyer's wife reacted. It may not have been, however, how Beyer reacted, as Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis pointed out in the prosecution's opening arguments and plans to show through witness testimony later this week.
RELATED:Second day of testimony in Matthew Beyer trial includes stepfather, trauma expert, medical examiner
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Matthew Beyer trial Day 3 focuses on surveillance video, DNA evidence
