MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ) – A man arrested for a decades-old double murder was officially charged on Thursday.
82-year-old Raymand Vannieuwenhoven faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree sexual assault.
An initial court appearance for Vannieuwenhoven is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
The charges stem from the 1976 deaths of 25-year-old David Schuldes and 24-year-old Ellen Matheys at McClintock Park in Silver Cliff. In addition, Matheys was also sexually assaulted.
DNA tests, including samples collected from the garbage, during a coffee chat, and the envelope from a survey, were all used by investigators in the effort to identify the guilty party for the murders.
Following the murders, an investigation yielded no arrests.
In the mid-1990s DNA samples were tested which determined the sample was from one male, but there was no match.
Again in 2001 DNA samples were tested and there was no match.
Then Marinette County investigators contacted a Virginia DNA lab in 2018, which tested a sample from the sexual assault.
Parabon Nanolabs, the DNA company, at first identified a broad genealogical background of the suspect, but then was able to narrow it down even more.
“The genealogist was able to narrow down a suspect pool to a specific family with ties to the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area. She identified the family of Gladys M. Brunette and Edward K. Vannieuwenhoven as possible suspects in the homicide. Gladys and Edward had 6 children, and the genealogist thought the suspect could be one of their four sons or four of their grandsons. The genealogist identified Gladys and Edward’s four sons as Edward S. Vannieuwenhoven, Francis W. Vannieuwenhoven, Raymand L. Vannieuwenhoven, and Cornelius R. Vannieuwenhoven,” the complaint states.
Garbage from outside the home of Cornelius Vannieuwenhoven was retrieved from investigators and socks, a bandage, and an inhaler were tested.
The tests determined the suspect was from that family, even though it was not an exact match.
Attention was then turned by police to another brother, Edward Vannieuwenhoven.
The next time Edward stopped over for coffee a neighbor agreed to keep the cup.
Edward was ruled out by that later test, but it again indicated it someone from his family.
Raymand Vannieuwenhoven was then approached by officers at his home under the false pretense of conducting a survey about policing in the area.
Vannieuwenhoven was asked to seal the survey in an envelope, which gave officers a saliva sample they could use for testing.
After being tested at the crime lab, the sample came back as a match from the crime scene sample.
The victims were shot with a .30 caliber firearm and a search of Vannieuwenhoven’s property turned up a “30-30 level action rifle” in his garage.
No ballistic tests are cited to match the weapon specifically to the murders.
No comments from Vannieuwenhoven about the incident are included in the complaint.
