A Fond du Lac County judge has sentenced a man charged with killing a young woman nearly three decades ago to the maximum 10 years in prison.
Eighteen-year-old Berit Beck was strangled while travelling from Sturtevant to Appleton in July 1990 on a work-related trip. Sixty-four-year-old Dennis Brantner earlier entered an Alford plea to second-degree reckless homicide after an initial trial ended with a mistrial. Brantner agreed there was enough evidence for a conviction, but he maintained his innocence.
The courtroom was packed Thursday when the victim's father, Dave Beck, broke down when he recalled some of his daughter's last words before her trip -- that "all the people up north are good people." Berit's mother, Diane Beck, said she wished she had gone with Berit on her trip.
