Decision in 1976 double murder case may be appealed

Attorneys for the elderly Lakewood man accused in a 1976 double homicide in Marinette County have asked the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for permission to appeal a judge’s ruling denying evidence of an alternate suspect.

Raymand L. Vannieuwenhoven, 84, has been incarcerated since he was arrested in March 2019 and charged with the shooting deaths of David Schuldes, 25, and Ellen Matheys, 24, at the McClintock Park campground in the Town of Silver Cliff in July 1976. Matheys had also been sexually assaulted.

The case went unsolved for more than 40 years until, investigators say, DNA found with Matheys’ body was positively matched to Vannieuwenhoven in early 2019.

The trial, which is expected to take up to two weeks starting July 19, has been delayed both by COVID-19 concerns and several months when the defendant suffered a mental setback that left him temporarily not competent to assist in his own defense.

Marinette County Judge James A. Morrison in March denied a defense motion to allow testimony about one of two earlier suspects in the case. The man had a past history of physical and sexual abuse, a history of mental illness and aggravated violence, and worked for the Marinette County Parks Department at the time of the murders, the defense had argued.

The man was considered a suspect as recently as the 1990s, but authorities were unable to tie him conclusively to the murders, and Morrison ruled that the defense motion did not meet the legal requirements for introducing evidence of an alternative suspect.

In its petition to the Court of Appeals, defense attorneys ask for “leave to pursue a permissive appeal” challenging the judge’s ruling and asking the appellate court to order Morrison to allow the evidence into testimony.

A decision on a second alternate suspect is pending.