In 1966, law enforcement agencies abandoned a case involving the death of a 7-year-old boy from Michigan whose remains had been found in Mequon, dismissing charges against the boy’s adoptive parents who admitted to killing their son but could not be tied to the skeleton at the time.
Now, around 65 years later, Wisconsin researchers and law enforcement agencies have solved the cold case of Markku Jutila â born as Chester Breiney â through genetic genealogy, according to a Nov. 8 release from the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s office.
Human remains found Oct. 4, 1959, in Mequon
On Oct. 4, 1959, a Milwaukee woman picking wildflowers happened upon the head of what was then thought to be a young girl in a culvert off Davis Road, north of Bonniwell Road and south of Pioneer Road in the City of Mequon, according to reporting from the Milwaukee Journal published on March 28, 1966.
The next morning, police found additional remains in a partially burnt cardboard box and began an initial investigation, pursuing over 200 leads.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies in Houghton County, Michigan, were conducting their own investigation into a possible missing child, Markku Jutila.
Family members of William and Hilja Jutila had become suspicious of the whereabouts of the couple’s adopted child, Markku, and filed a complaint with police in Michigan, according to the Milwaukee Journal.
Hilja’s brothers had visited William and Hilja several times in Chicago where the couple had recently relocated, asking each time about where the child was.
Couple admitted to killing son, fleeing and putting him in culvert, according to reporting from 1966
William and Hilja were questioned by Chicago police. Police said the couple spoke to each other in Finnish in an effort to coordinate their stories during questioning, unaware that the officer also spoke Finnish, according to the Milwaukee Journal.
William eventually admitted the child had died in his arms after being beaten by his wife while they were still in Houghton.
When confronted, Hilja began to weep and admitted, “Yes. He’s dead. We put him in a culvert,” according to the Milwaukee Journal.
During the interview with police, the couple also admitted to disposing of the childâs body in a ditch in Mequon while fleeing Houghton, in Upper Michigan, for Chicago. The couple had left Houghton in such a hurry that clothes were left hanging in the backyard and food was left cooking on the stove, the Chicago Tribune reported.
During further psychiatric evaluations, the couple claimed that Markku had been ill for several days before he was found dead in his room, according to the Nov. 8 Sheriff’s Office release. They claimed they traveled to Chicago out of fear of what had happened and dumped the child’s body on the side of the road along the way.
Law enforcement agencies found that the human remains located in the culvert had features similar to Markku’s.
Seven years after Markku’s remains were found, the Jutilas were arrested and extradited to Houghton County for prosecution, per the Nov. 8 release.
Charges against the couple were dismissed in November 1966
On November 10, 1966, charges were dismissed because of the “absence of corpus delicti and the failure of the prosecution to connect the skeleton of the child found in Mequon with the defendants,” according to the release. (Corpus delicti, or “body of the crime” in Latin, refers to the legal standard of evidence needed to prove a crime has been committed before a person can be convicted.)
The case was left cold until October of 2023.
That’s when Dr. Jordan Karsten, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh professor and chair of the Anthropology, Global Religions, and Cultures Department, along with Hannah Moos-Classon, Madison State Crime Lab Analyst, ran tests on skeletal remains identified to be related to the 1959 death in Mequon.
Karsten and Moos-Classon reached out to Neil McGrath, Wisconsin Department of Justice special agent in the Division of Criminal Investigation, and Scott Heller, an Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office detective.
Karsten explained how a radiographic comparison of the skull for Case 6426 matched the cranial and mandibular radiographs Moos-Classon had provided relating to the Ozaukee County’s records on the case, which matched details of Markku’s death.
The researchers and investigators sought to identify the remains further, utilizing DNA extracted from the skull and conducting investigative genealogy.
An analysis by Bode Technology Labs in May of 2024 determined the remains belonged to a male individual, but the DNA profile returned no matching results when entered into CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, a national database of DNA profiles used to solve crimes and identify missing people.
In July, investigators sought further DNA analysis assistance from Othram Labs.
Investigators used court records and newspaper articles to gather information
While awaiting those results, investigators reviewed court records and 1960s newspaper articles, including several from the Milwaukee Journal, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Most of the original investigative reports from the time were unable to be recovered due to the time that had passed.
Based on those news stories, McGrath sought records from Houghton County Probate Court and the Houghton Good Will Farm orphanage, now called U.P. Kids, held by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The records revealed that the birth name for Markku Jutila was Chester Alfred Breiney, who was born on Feb. 26, 1952. Chesterâs birth mother was listed as Josephine Breiney of Houghton, Michigan, and the father was listed as âunknown.â
The adoption records also showed Chester was admitted to the Good Will Farm orphanage, and was later adopted by the Jutilas on March 24, 1955.
Further examination of the remains revealed they were from an individual who most likely suffered significant neglect based on dental health, as well as new bone formation resulting from either infection, trauma or bleeding, according to the Nov. 8 release.
“The individual may have suffered from rickets and also had a healed fracture on one of the left ribs,” per the Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators used DNA to discover matches to family members
In September 2024, investigators entered the skull DNA into a public source DNA database, which unearthed several matches to members of the Breiney family, particularly Josephine Breiney, Chester’s mother. Josephine Breiney died in 2001 and had no living relatives.
Chesterâs adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, whoâd been implicated in the death of the child, both died in 1988, meaning there will be no future prosecution in this case, according to the Sheriffâs Office.
“Child abuse is real. So many children are affected by the trauma they receive at the hands of people who are supposed to love and nurture them,” the Sheriff’s Office said in its release.
Funeral for Chester Breiney will be held Nov. 15 in Port Washington
A funeral for Chester Breiney will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, at the St. John XXIII Parish – St. Peter of Alcantara Church, 1800 N. Wisconsin St., Port Washington. A procession will follow to St. Maryâs Parish Cemetery located off of West Beutel Road in Port Washington, west of Holden Street.
Donations in memory of Chester can be sent to the Lakeshore Regional Child Advocacy Center, which advocates for children and is an integral partner to law enforcement, Ozaukee County and surrounding communities.
“Although no one will be prosecuted for Chester Alfred Breineyâs death, Chester may now rest in peace as the truth of his death is known. No child should leave this earth like Chester did,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
“Itâs been 65 years since Chester was murdered, however, he was never forgotten.”
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Agencies crack 65-year-old cold case of remains found in Mequon
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