GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A suspect in the presumed murder of a Green Bay man was in court on Monday to have a trial date set.
19-year-old Brandon Guyton-Denn of Green Bay is being charged with first-degree reckless homicide and party to a crime.
Court records show that his trial date has been set for March 18.
The charges come after Jovanny Puga was beaten and left for dead in the Milwaukee River last year.
19-year-old Shawn Leitner of Manitowoc and 19-year-old Jaleel Schultz of Milwaukee are also being charged with first-degree reckless homicide and party to a crime. 19-year-old Emma Brud of De Pere is being charged with aiding a felon.
Schultz remains at-large and an arrest warrant has been issued.
Brud returns to court on November 29 for a plea hearing, while Leitner is scheduled to stand trial on February 11.
Investigators first learned of reports of a man beaten to death and thrown into the Milwaukee River in March of 2017, according to the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint states that three of the four suspects were arrested in March of 2017 when a vehicle that was reported stolen out of De Pere by Brud’s mother was stopped by police.
Phrases such as “Lincoln Park Milwaukee satellite view”, “Milwaukee deaths last night” and “Milwaukee deaths in the river,” were found following internet searches of the suspect’s cellphones.
The complaint states that according to Brud, she and Guyton-Denn were dating and following a dispute they “wanted revenge” on Puga. According to prosecutors, Puga was brought to Milwaukee by Brud and she knew that he would be beaten. The complaint reads that Puga was undressed after being beaten and then tossed into the river.
The complaint states that Brud was instructed to take Puga’s clothes to Green Bay in order to burn them. Puga’s body has never been found.
