Summary
In October 1959, the remains of an unidentified individual were discovered in a culvert off of Davis Road in the City of Mequon, Wisconsin. The culvert was north of Bonniwell Road and south of Pioneer Road. The Mequon Police Department conducted the initial investigation, following up on hundreds of leads. It was determined that the remains were that of a child, likely between the ages of 6-8 years old at the time of their death. The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
During the investigation, investigators became aware of an investigation in Houghton County, Michigan regarding a possible missing child, Markku Jutila. Houghton County Deputies were working with the Chicago Police Department after family members of William and Hilja Jutila became suspicious of the whereabouts of their adopted child, Markku Jutila. The Jutila family had relocated from Houghton to Chicago and were not able to articulate the whereabouts of their six year old son. During an interview with police, the couple admitted to fleeing Houghton for Chicago, and disposing of the child’s body in a ditch in Mequon before arriving in Chicago. The mother, Hilja Jutila, confessed to physically beating her son to death.
William and Hilja Jutila were arrested by Chicago Police and Houghton County Investigators on March 28, 1966 and subsequently prosecuted. However, charges against the Jutilas were dismissed due to the absence of corpus delicti and the failure of the prosecution to connect the skeleton of the child found in Mequon with the defendants. The individuals' adopted child, Markku, was never seen again. The child found in October 1959, presumed to be the adopted son of William and Hilja Jutila, was never officially identified.
In hopes of identifying the boy, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, in collaboration with the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office and the Madison State Crime Lab, met with an anthropologist from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in October 2023, regarding these remains. Traditional DNA testing was completed so that an STR profile could be developed and uploaded to CODIS. No matches were found and the child’s identity remained unknown. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Case (NamUs) as UP126034.
Following this CODIS search, a decision to conduct advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy was made. In 2024, forensic evidence belonging to the unknown child was submitted to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram’s scientists used Forensic Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unidentified child. This profile was transferred to investigators with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation so that a genealogical search could be performed in hopes that new leads could be developed in the case, and the child could be identified. Doing so would end a nearly seventy year mystery.
A follow-up investigation was launched leading to the identification of the child who is now known to be Chester Alfred Breiney, whose adopted name was Markku Jutila. Chester Alfred Breiney was born to Josephine Breiney of Houghton, Michigan on February 26, 1952. Adoption records showed Chester was admitted to the Good Will Farm orphanage, and was adopted by Russell and Hilja Jutila on March 24, 1955.
The Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the results of this investigation and the positive DNA identification of Breiney. The abuse of Chester by his adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, went undetected and Chester died as a direct result of their torture and abuse. While William and Hilja Jutila were implicated in Chester's death back in 1966, both individuals died in 1988. Therefore, there will be no future prosecution in this case.
A funeral service for Chester Alfred Breiney will be held on Friday, November 15, 2024 at St. John the XXIII/St. Peter Alcantara Church located in Port Washington, Wisconsin under the direction of Eernisse Funeral Home. A procession will follow to St. Mary’s Cemetery in Port Washington where Chester will be laid to rest. Chester’s funeral and interment was funded by generous donations made by community members.
The identification of Chester Alfred Breiney represents the sixth case solved in the State of Wisconsin using technology developed by Othram. To learn about other cases in Wisconsin, visit DNASolves.
Michael Vogen
Director of Case Management
Michael works with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada on “unsolvable“ cases that can benefit from advanced DNA testing methods. He helps these agencies use cutting edge DNA sequencing and new forensic techniques to develop investigative leads for their cases.