Wisconsin police have cracked the 65-year-old cold case of a missing Michigan boy thanks to DNA evidence.
The case involved a missing 7-year-old boy named Markku Jutila, whose birth name was Chester Breiney. On October 4, 1959, the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office in Port Washington found a child's skeleton in a culvert near the city of Mequon, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, according to USA Today.
The victim was estimated to be between 6 and 8 years old when he was discovered.
Detectives at the time learned that the Houghton County Sheriff's Department in Michigan — approximately 300 miles north — was looking for a missing child named Markku Jutila. Houghton County deputies and Chicago police were tipped off by relatives of the boy's adopted parents, William and Hilja, that something was strange about his disappearance.
The couple could not account for their son's whereabouts and eventually admitted to police that they dumped the child's body in a ditch in Mequon before moving to Chicago. The mother also admitted to beating her son to death.
The couple was arrested in 1966 and they were extradited to Wisconsin, but charges against them were dropped because prosecutors could not establish a concrete link between the recovered body and the adopted boy.
Advancements in DNA analysis allowed police to re-examine the remains, which they identified as Chester Alfred Breiney, whose birth mother had died in 2001.
In July 2024, the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office asked Othram, a DNA testing lab that has helped crack numerous cold cases, to assist them with the case.
Further investigation confirmed that the boy had a healed broken rib — consistent with the mother's account of beating him — and found that the boy had died from severe neglect.
Using DNA from a skull fragment, police were able to confirm that the remains matched with members of the Breiney family, confirming after 65 years that the body was in fact that of the missing boy.
The sheriff's office said that no charges will be filed in the case as anyone involved in the boy’s death has already died. The boy's adoptive parents died in 1988.
"Although no one will be prosecuted for Chester Alfred Breiney’s death, Chester may now rest in peace as the truth of his death is known. No child should leave this Earth like Chester did," Sheriff Christy Knowles said in a statement.
"All investigative parties involved in this case worked diligently to bring justice for Chester, beginning back in 1959 when he was found. It’s been 65 years since Chester was murdered, however, he was never forgotten."
