Community’s adopted son laid to rest

About a hundred poeple, many of them members of local and state law enforcement, on Friday laid to rest a 7-year-old boy none of them knew but who represented every abused and mistreated child in Wisconsin.

“Thank you for surrounding him with the love that he did not have in his short life,” Father Patrick Wendt told those gathered at St. John XXIII Parish, St. Peter of Alcantara Catholic Church in Port Washington for the funeral of Chester Alfred Breiney.

More than 30 more people viewed the funeral online.

“We’re here for this community that has adopted Chester,” said James Luck, sergeant at arms of Guardians of the Children, an organization dedicated to fighting child abuse. “We’re here for all who mourn their children.”

Club members arrived to the burial site at St. Mary’s Parish Cemetery in Port on their motorcycles.

“We have a slogan, ‘When a child calls, we ride.’ He (Chester) called, we showed up,” said Luck, whose members often can be seen in courtrooms when cases involving child abuse are heard. “We’re a voice for the voiceless.”

Chester’s skeleton was discovered Oct. 4, 1959, in a culvert off of Davis Road, north of Bonniwell Road and south of Pioneer Road, in the City of Mequon.

But his identity remained unknown until recently when it was revealed with the help of newspaper articles and a reverse DNA testing method used in 2019 to identify the murderer of Traci Hammerberg, a Saukville teenager who was killed in 1984.

It was the first time that the technique had been used to identify a victim, Special Agent Neil McGrath of the state Department of Criminal Investigation said.

“It’s a very sad story,” McGrath said. “To be able to give him his name back and lay him to rest peacefully is very satisfying.”

Chester’s adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, were charged with his murder in 1966.

But those charges were dismissed when authorities could not conclusively match the child’s remains to Chester, whose adoptive name was Markku, even though the couple admitted to beating him to death and leaving his body in a ditch in Mequon while traveling from Houghton, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula to Chicago.

The case remained cold until October 2023, when McGrath, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office Detective Scott Heller and State Crime Lab Analyst Hannah Moos-Classon met with Jordan Karsten, associate professor and chairman of the Department of Anthropology, Global Religions and Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who was examining the bones found in the Mequon culvert.

Karsten and Moos-Classon began investigating the case and contacted the Ozaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, which then requested assistance from the crime lab and DCI.

Investigators extracted DNA from the skull, and used a “reverse genealogy” technique first used in California to identify the so-called Golden State Killer. It was used for the first time in Wisconsin in 2019 to identify Hammerberg’s murderer, Phillip Cross of Port Washington.

The technique uses open source genetic databases to find DNA profiles related to the boy. The analysis was completed in May 2024 without any matches.

But a newspaper article from 1966 about the trial offered additional information that led police to an orphanage near Houghton, whose records are now held by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in Lansing, Mich.

A review of adoption records revealed the boy’s birth name to be Chester Alfred Breiney, born on Feb. 26, 1952. His birth mother was listed as Josephine Breiney of Houghton, and confirmed by DNA. His father listed in records as “unknown.”

He was adopted by the Jutilas on March 24, 1955.

The Jutilas died in 1988. Josephine Breiney died in 2001 with no living relatives.

Examination of the boy’s skeleton showed he likely suffered from significant neglect based on dental health and bone formation, including infection, bleeding in tissue surrounding the bones, severe malnutrition and a healed fracture on one of his left ribs.

Investigators were unable to locate any photographs of Chester. But DCI Special Agent Truli Nielsen conducted a facial reconstruction drawing from the skull remains to show what Chester looked like.

On Friday, a children’s choir sang as Chester’s child-size coffin, donated by  Lake Shore Burial Vaults in Lannon, was carried forward by McGrath, Heller, Moos-Classon and Karsten.

“I’m positive that the God I preach embraced him in 1959,” Wendt said from the pulpit.

At St. Mary’s Cemetery, his casket was lowered into a grave donated by the cemetery and marked with a headstone donated by Miller Monument Co. of Jackson.

The funeral was organized by Joe Eernisse of Eernisse Funeral Home.

“I couldn’t believe the outpouring of support from the community for this little boy,” Eernisse said. “It was truly humbling. From all of the heartfelt messages and prayers and the flower pieces, to the presence of so many at the church and the graveside, I hope it showed Chester how truly loved he was.”

Also impressed was Amanda Didier, executive director of the Lakeshore Regional Child Advocacy Center in Saukville, which helps children and families work through abusive situations and the trauma they cause.

“I was quite impressed by the crowd  at  the church and the outpouring of support for Chester,” she said. “While this was a sober event and very sad and difficult to think about, I find relief and hope because the multidisciplinary team that investigated are diligent and doing good work.”

Didier and others said they hope Chester’s story will help bring attention to child abuse that continues to occur.

Children and families are often referred to Didier and her staff through law enforcement or county human services departments in Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Washington and Manitowoc counties.

The services include “forensic” interviews where children can talk in a safe environment about things that happened to them.

Investigators, meanwhile, will observe the interview and advocates will meet with parents or caregivers and help navigate them through the process.

Children who come to the center range in age from 3 to 17, Didier said.

Since it was founded in 2015, the center has served more than 4,000 children.

“We had a surge following Covid in 2021 and then it leveled off. Now we’re climbing again,” Didier said.

In 2023, the center handled 622 cases, up from 597 cases in 2022, she said.

Less than half the center’s funding comes from counties and state government, she said, with the rest coming from foundations or private donations.

“Child abuse has existed in our community forever and Chester is an example of this,” she said. “But I think our communities have become more aware.”

Donations in memory of Chester can be made to the Lakeshore Regional Child Advocacy Center online at www.lakeshorecac.org.