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Man accused in 1976 murders bound over for trial

RAYMAND VANNIEUWENHOVEN

MARINETTE, Wis. — An 82-year-old Lakewood, Wis., man accused of killing a Green Bay couple at a Marinette County campground 43 years ago was bound over for trial Wednesday.

Raymand Vannieuwenhoven faces two counts of first-degree murder, a felony punishable by up to life in prison, in the deaths of 25-year-old David Schuldes and 24-year-old Ellen Matheys on July 9, 1976, in the Town of Silver Cliff.

Det. Todd Baldwin of the Marinette County Sheriff’s Office testified in Marinette County Circuit Court that DNA from semen left in Matheys’ shorts matched Vannieuwenhoven’s DNA profile, which had been generated in March from saliva obtained by Oconto County Chief Deputy Darren Laskowski.

Laskowski visited Vannieuwenhoven at his home, claiming he was conducting a survey on local law enforcement. Laskowski testified Vannieuwenhoven signed the survey and sealed it in an envelope after a brief interview.

The DNA match resulted in Vannieuwenhoven’s arrest March 14.

A second DNA sample was collected after Vannieuwenhoven was taken into custody, Baldwin said, and it once again matched that of the semen on Matheys’ shorts.

But defense attorney Lee Schuchart suggested the semen could have been from an encounter between Matheys and Vannieuwenhoven days before the murders, that the state was “glossing over” the lack of evidence placing Vannieuwenhoven at the scene of the crime and implicating him in their deaths.

“They don’t have witnesses or eyewitnesses,” Schuchart said. “They have no idea what happened on that day.”

District Attorney DeShea Morrow noted Matheys had abrasions and contusions around her vagina, inner thighs and knees. With sexual assault as motive, there was strong evidence against Vannieuwenhoven, Morrow said.

Though Circuit Judge James Morrison dismissed the count of first-degree sexual assault against Vannieuwenhoven in May because the statute of limitations had passed, he ruled the first-degree murder case could continue.

“The state has more than met its burden” of probable cause, Morrison said.

Morrison set Vannieuwenhoven’s arraignment for 10:30 a.m. July 1.

Vannieuwenhoven would have been 39 in 1976, when Schuldes and Matheys were killed.

According to the criminal complaint, Schuldes was fatally shot through the neck with a .30-caliber firearm as he waited for Matheys outside a bathroom at the McClintock Park campground. The shooter then either ordered or chased Matheys into a nearby wooded area, where she was sexually assaulted and, after being allowed to put some of her clothing back on, shot in the chest and abdomen.

Though the case went cold, Marinette County detectives continued to have the DNA from the semen left in Matheys’ shorts periodically analyzed to see if a possible match might surface, according to the criminal complaint.

In 2018, investigators submitted evidence to Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs, who in December traced the DNA to a specific couple with ties to the Green Bay, Wis., area, according to the criminal complaint.

Further investigation led to Vannieuwenhoven, who was living as a widower in Lakewood, Wis., authorities said.

The 82-year-old remains jailed at the Marinette County Law Enforcement Center on a $1 million bond.

Brian Christensen can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 29, or bchristensen@ironmountaindailynews.com.

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