APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Matthew Beyer was convicted Thursday of trying to escape from the Outagamie County jail. Also, as expected, his trial for allegedly killing his two children in their Kaukauna home was postponed to allow his defense team time to get an expert witness on new DNA tests performed by the state crime lab.
Beyer, 38, is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly killing William, 5, and Danielle Beyer, 3, who were found dead in their Kaukauna home on Feb. 17, 2020.
In June 2020, Beyer and another man tried to escape from the jail. They took a corrections officer hostage for a time but never got out of the secure area of the jail.
On Thursday, he pleaded no contest to attempt escape and taking a hostage. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 24.
As for the murder trial, it had been scheduled to start Sept. 6 but was rescheduled Thursday for Dec. 1.
Last month, Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said the state crime lab continued its testing evidence from the scene, including the use of relatively new and complex testing methods. Defense attorney Amanda Skorr said the expert she had wasn’t qualified to evaluate the new technology and asked for a postponement to get a new expert.
Judge Mark McGinnis said Thursday he was opposed to the delay but agreed to the continuance.
This is the second time the trial has been postponed. In December 2020, a trial date in November 2021 was set, but that was postponed due to competency issues. In October 2021, the trial date for next month was set.
The children’s mother called police on Feb. 17, 2020, to report their deaths. The mother and Beyer both admitted they did not have a good relationship with each other and were scheduled to appear in court later that day for a family court hearing.
Beyer initially denied being at the scene but later admitted he was at the house — though he has denied killing them.
According to the autopsies, the children suffered multiple “sharp force” injuries.
Beyer’s defense team plans to introduce evidence blaming another man for the murders.
Demetrius Williams, who conspired with Beyer on the escape attempt, was sentenced to life in prison for killing a toddler and stabbing his pregnant girlfriend, plus another five years for the escape attempt.
