Month: October 2016

HOLLAND, MI – As Wyngarden heads to trial the 1987 cold case murders of and Brink, prosecutors acknowledge the tough police work that got them this far, but say they have plenty of challenges ahead. Twenty-five years after the newly married couple Henry Melton Jersey was shot at their Park Township home, memories of that time are fuzzy for. Two days of testimony Wyngarden’s probable cause hearing this week revealed witnesses who at times said they simply couldn’t remember and couldn’t cite specific days when conversations took place. Now the ball’s our court, Assistant Ottawa County Prosecutor Fisher said Thursday, Feb. 28. He acknowledged the passing years as both a blessing and a challenge. Witnesses were able to speak more matter-of-factly about painful conversations that occurred years ago, things that would be much more difficult to express immediately after a painful tragedy. That was especially true the case of Beelen, who took the witness stand Thursday morning Holland District Court. She spoke with her body turned away from Wyngarden -who was allowed back the courtroom after a series of outbursts Wednesday – but she opened up about a conversation she allegedly had with him years ago. Beelen dated Wyngarden for several years the 1980s and broke up with him not before the Brink murders. They remained friends. He picked her up one day during the week after the couple’s deaths and took her to a park on the north side of Holland, Beelen said, where he told her he had something to tell her, something bad, something terrible.

The conversation that unfolded is one she stayed silent about for years. She only shared memories of it with a sister after detectives reopened the Brink murder case 2011 and then, with her husband. Wyngarden, tears, told her that day something that seemed to weigh on his mind: He finally came out and told me that he had had with. The two were teens – sister and brother – and said ‘no,’ Beelen recalled Wyngarden telling her. He said he just did it. Wyngarden told her of a time he was on a boat with and years later. He was looking at lustfully, Beelen recalled of the conversation, and saw it. The testimony fell line with allegations from prosecutors that Wyngarden executed the Brink murders out of jealously and concern the truth about a sexual relationship would emerge. But other times, the passing years brought challenges. Several witnesses struggled to remember timeframes of conversations with Wyngarden. Some things seemed to Isaiah Frey Jersey come across as hearsay, Defense attorney Hall said, pointing to witnesses who struggled to remember the exact words they heard from Wyngarden. That will effect both sides going forward, Hall said. Other potential witnesses are no longer alive. Testimony concluded Thursday after a surprise of sorts when prosecutors introduced an Ottawa County Jail inmate as the last person who would implicate Wyngarden the slayings.

Cain, who is charged with criminal sexual conduct, told the court of alleged conversations he had with Wyngarden through the door of Wyngarden’s super max cell. Cain learned he was charged with two homicides. Wyngarden told him, Cain testified, that They do have a gun that I used. He said he just felt like he was the outcast of the family. He said his sisters got everything, Cain said. He told the court Wyngarden wrote I killed them on the palm of his hand and put it up to the glass part of his cell. The court fell silent momentarily as Cain said Wyngarden made death threats against his older sister, Murphree, who lives Alabama, allegedly saying he would have killed her if he had known she was going to be like this. Murphree, who was the gallery after testifying the case, put her hand to her mouth. She sat next to Wyngarden’s wife,, who testified through tears Wednesday. The court was notably divided Thursday as the four children of and Pam Wyngarden sat behind the defense table, on the other side of the room from their mother. One row ahead – sitting alone – was Wyngarden and Murphree’s mother, Dorothea Wyngarden. The mother sat court as Murphree testified earlier Thursday that as the family was shock the week after her sister’s murder, Wyngarden said, Sometimes I wonder if I couldn’t have done this. Murphree testified that her brother appeared disinterested as she called him from home weeks after the deaths, looking to vent, to talk with someone who shared her loss. He said, ‘Well, she lived a really good life’… it was like he was trying to make light of it, Murphree testified. But the courtroom gallery throughout the day on Thursday spoke of testimony they did not believe, details that seemed questionable, some things they even called lies. That sentiment was shared the hallway during breaks proceedings. Family members declined to comment after Holland District Judge Bradley ruled there was enough evidence to send Wyngarden’s case to Ottawa County Circuit Court. Hall said he’ll continue to sift through physical evidence the case and look into the people who occupied and Brink’s Park Township home prior to their move. The couple had only resided there for a short time and there was some indication, Hall said, that the murders have been a mistake, intended for someone else. Wyngarden, 50, of Zeeland remains the Ottawa County Jail without bond.