THERE has been a massive update on the mysterious case of a man who was found decapitated and burned.
The body of Dennis Schattie, 79, was found wrapped in a tarp alongside a chain and a butcher knife, at the Rock River in Rockford, Illinois.
The grim finding was made on April 12, with Altoona Police Chief Kelly Bakken describing the investigation as “complex.”
And now, over five months after the body’s discovery, it has been revealed that a man and a woman targeted Schattie in a bid to benefit financially from him, according to WEAU.
Tracey A. Clark, 55, of Eau Claire, and Brandon A. Gaston, 46, of Rockford, Ill., have been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse, both as a party to a crime, in Eau Claire County Court.
Clark is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Thursday.
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During Gaston’s court appearance on Friday, a $1 million cash bail with conditions that he does not contact Clark or members of Schattie’s family.
He is set to return to court on September 27 for a preliminary hearing.
Court documents describe how Schattie’s body was found wrapped in a tarp- there was also a rope and a plastic bag containing a saw, butcher knife, hammer and a broken set of dentures.
It also smelled like “gasoline or some sort of possible accelerant.”
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Authorities were able to identify the body as Schattie who lived on St. Andrews Drive in Altoona, using dentures and fingerprints.
An autopsy was not able to determine a cause of death because of the condition of the body.
Clark was later arrested, following a search of the home she shared with Schattie.
Gaston had been previously arrested by Wisconsin State Patrol for a probation violation.
According to court documents, Clark told investigators that she had been living with Schattie since 2019 and had known him for about 22 years.
She had been added as a co-owner of his house and vehicle as well as a beneficiary on his annuity.
Following a search cops found a blood-stained wheelbarrow in Schattie’s garage as well as blood-stained floor mats in some nearby dumpsters- DNA testing showed the stains were Schattie’s blood.
Investigators had also spoken to an Eau Claire County inmate who was at the same block as Gaston.
He claimed that Gaston told him he killed Schattie and that he had planned the murder with Clark.