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10 years in prison for 1990 strangulation case

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) — 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 traveling 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.

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