FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WHBL-KFIZ) -- Testimony at a cold case murder trial in Fond Du Lac turned to fingerprint evidence yesterday.
One of the crime lab technicians responsible for allegedly tying 62-year-old Dennis Brantner to the 1990 murder of Berit Beck took the stand yesterday. Steven Harrington worked as a fingerprint analyst for the State Crime Lab, and submitted evidence from the Beck case to a special national database looking for matches. "Those prints are compared to a database of digital images of fingerprints, and can provide a potential candidates to compare." Harrington said that technology wasn't available at the time he retired in 2006.
Prosecutors say five previously unidentified prints taken from the Beck van were identified as Brantner’s by the crime lab in February of 2014. Brantner was fingerprinted at the County Jail in March of 2015 and two more prints were allegedly identified.
The prints were found on a Burger King cup, employee manual, bleach kit, cellophane cigarette wrapper, and inside the middle door window of the van.
The trial continues today in Fond du Lac County court.