Matthew Beyer's ex-wife testifies on day 4 of trial, says blood-stained clothes and knife went missing
APPLETON – Matthew Beyer's ex-wife testified in court Wednesday that she woke up in the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 2020, and saw her then-husband changing out of blood-stained khaki pants.
That morning, 5-year-old William Beyer and 3-year-old Danielle Beyer were found dead in their shared bedroom at 1201½ Crooks Ave. in Kaukauna. Their autopsies said the children both died of multiple "sharp force injuries" to their necks.
Matthew Beyer, the children's biological father, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for their murders. His trial started Dec. 1 with jury selection, and testimony began the following day.
In Wednesday's testimony, Erika Beyer, who was living with Beyer and four children at their apartment on North 10th Street in Manitowoc at the time, said she noticed blood on the pant legs, above the knee. She testified that she did all the laundry in the home and had never seen Beyer own a pair of khaki-colored pants.
Erika Beyer said she tried to grab the pants from Matthew Beyer, but he grabbed them back, put them in a bag and left the apartment to go to work.
In the days and weeks after the children's deaths, Erika searched for the khaki pants she saw Matthew wear that night. She said she never found them. In two text message exchanges between Erika and Matthew read aloud by a Kaukauna police officer in court Wednesday, Erika repeatedly questioned Matthew about the pants, which she wrote gave her "nightmares."
In the earlier text message exchange, Matthew Beyer said he didn't own any khaki pants. In the second exchange, from March 7, 2020, Matthew said he found the khaki pants at the bottom of his drawer and may have thrown them away.
Erika also testified Wednesday that Matthew Beyer collected knives and that two knives from his collection went missing after Feb. 17, 2020. One of the knives was part of a pair; Erika and Matthew each had a matching knife. Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis presented the matching knife as evidence and showed it to the jury Wednesday. It was gray and black with a straight blade and skull details on the handle.
Despite being interviewed multiple times in the months after the children's deaths, Erika Beyer didn't tell investigators about the blood-stained khakis until after Matthew Beyer was arrested in June 2020. She testified Wednesday that she withheld the information out of fear for her children's safety.
"I was scared. I knew I was going back to him," Erika Beyer told the jury.
Erika Beyer also testified that, one time, about two months before William's and Danielle's deaths, Matthew Beyer talked about killing the children. Erika said he described some details of how he would do it, including what type of weapon he would use and that he would kill Danielle first because she had a loud voice.
Erika Beyer said she didn't notify law enforcement about that conversation at the time because she didn't believe Matthew would do it.
In the weeks and months after the children's deaths, Erika Beyer testified that she called a detective multiple times to ask for updates on the case. Although she didn't tell police at the time, Erika testified that she had concerns that Matthew was the killer.
Erika Beyer said Matthew didn't call police to ask for updates to the case. He also didn't attend the children's funeral.
Erika also testified that after Matthew Beyer's arrest, she received a letter from him, asking her to buy a matching a gray knife, khaki pants and a shirt, and to bring them to police and say that she found them in a car. Erika said she notified police about the letter.
Matthew Beyer's defense attorneys, Amanda Skorr and Amber Gratz, tried to point out inconsistencies in Erika Beyer's testimony that might potentially affect her reliability as a witness. Under cross-examination, Erika Beyer admitted that she has a hard time remembering dates, and that she changed some information she told officers in multiple interviews during the course of the investigation.
A friend of Erika's, Melissa Winge, also testified Wednesday. She said she lived with the Beyers for about a week after William's and Danielle's deaths. During that week, Winge, Matthew Beyer and Erika Beyer had a conversation about how they would "hypothetically" kill a child. Winge said during that conversation, Matthew Beyer said he would use a screwdriver or a pocketknife and attack a child's neck so they couldn't scream.
Besides Winge and Erika Beyer, six other witnesses testified Wednesday. Among them was FBI Special Agent Karolina Mazur, who testified that Matthew Beyer's cell phone traveled from Manitowoc to Kaukauna and back in the early morning hours of Feb. 14, 16 and 17 — which is consistent with surveillance footage of Matthew Beyer's vehicle that was presented as evidence Tuesday.
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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's ex-wife says blood-stained clothes went missing
