GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The last suspect in the presumed murder of a Green Bay man was convicted Thursday.
Jaleel Schultz, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide for the Feb. 25, 2017 disappearance of Jovanny Puga. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25, court records show.
Shawn Leitner and Brandon Guyton-Denn have already been sentenced to eight years in prison for beating Puga and dumping him a Milwaukee river. Puga’s body has never been found. Also, Emma Brud was sentenced to three years on probation for disposing of Puga’s clothes.
Schultz was charged at the same time as the other three – on Sept. 25, 2018 – but did not appear in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest – even though state Department of Corrections records show he has been incarcerated since at least October, 2017 in both state and county facilities.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators learned in March of 2017 of reports of a man beaten to death and thrown into the Milwaukee River at Lincoln Park.
Three of the four suspects in the case were arrested when West Bend police stopped a vehicle that was reported stolen out of De Pere by Brud’s mother, the criminal complaint says.
A search of the suspects’ cellphones turned up internet searches for phrases such as “Lincoln Park Milwaukee satellite view”, “Milwaukee deaths last night” and “Milwaukee deaths in the river,” and a photo of Puga was found on one of the phones, copied from the Green Bay Police Department’s social media page, asking for the public’s help locating him.
According to Brud, she and Guyton-Denn were dating and he “wanted revenge” on Puga over a dispute, the complaint says. Guyton-Denn told Brud to bring Puga to Milwaukee, which she did. She did it knowing he would be beaten, prosecutors say. Puga was beaten near the river and forced to get undressed before being tossed in, the complaint reads.
“(A witness) saw Guyton-Denn kicking Puga in the head. He saw Leitner and Schultz on either side of Puga’s body, kicking him in the sides,” said Bryan Bichler, Glendale Police Department detective.
Brud took Puga’s clothes to Green Bay, the complaint says, and burned them.
