A Minnesota man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend just days after he was released from prison for previously assaulting her has been charged with an upgraded murder charge.
Matthew Brenneman, 39, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Danicka Bergeson, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Tuesday.
“Intimate partner violence requires a strong response,” Moriarty said. “It was an act that left victims traumatized and families devastated as a result. We are aggressively prosecuting those who perpetrated this violence.”
Brenneman, who was originally arrested on a charge of second-degree murder, also had his bail raised to $2 million.
He now faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years if convicted.
The upgraded first degree charge was for domestic abuse homicide with a past pattern of domestic abuse. One of the second degree is for murder while under a restraining order for protection.
Former US Army medic Danicka Bergeson, 33, was found dead, wrapped in a blanket in her bed. Sincerely the Bergeson Family
Police found the body of Bergeson, a former US Army medic, on July 8 wrapped in a blanket in his bed after the building manager at the Ramsgate Apartments in Hopkin reported hearing moans, screams and banging coming from his apartment.
Police detected a “pungent odor of bleach” from the bathroom, where they found Brenneman convulsed on the floor after he drank the bleach, according to court documents.
The accused killer – who also had scratch marks on his face, arms and legs, as well as “distinctive scratches on his back consistent with fingernail scratches” – had been released from prison just 11 days earlier after pleading guilty to domestic abuse for beating Bergeson.
A judge has ordered him to stay away from her.
His attorneys, Emmett Donnelly and Sarah Koziol, sought to dismiss the case citing Hennepin County Medical Examiner Andrew Baker’s report that could not determine the cause or manner of death, KARE 11 reported.
Bergeson worked at a veterinary clinic but had to quit due to an Army injury. Courtesy of the Bergeson Family Matthew Brenneman has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. Hennepin County Sheriff
But prosecutors cited other evidence — including a suicide note allegedly written by Brenneman that linked the crime.
“I passed out and lost control and sadly hurt a woman for the first time in my life,” one allegedly said.
He also allegedly wrote: “I don’t want to reveal what happened, it’s an exclusive personal thing [Bergeson] and myself to know or appear as if I were trying to justify the many terrible, absurd or unacceptable things that happened between us.
Danicka Bergeson “had a real zest for life,” said her grieving father. GoFundMe
“I’ve never loved any woman I’ve been romantically involved with as deeply and honestly [Bergeson],” he added.
Brenneman and his father also discussed legal theories of involuntary manslaughter that included comments that “crimes of passion may receive lighter sentences,” according to court documents cited by the outlet.
Bergeson took a break to join the US Army and become a medic before returning to finish his degree in animal science and take a job at a veterinary clinic, according to his father, David Bergeson.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
