A Wisconsin man is on trial for allegedly murdering his ex-girlfriend’s new beau. Zachariah Anderson, 42, is accused of attacking victim Rosalio Gutierrez Jr., 40, at the victim’s apartment on May 17, 2020 in a bloody attack. You can watch proceedings in the video above.
Authorities never found Gutierrez’s body. Defense lawyer Nicole Muller noted this in opening statements on Tuesday. She construed this as a major weakness in the state’s case. Law enforcement does not know what happened to Gutierrez’s body, she said. They don’t know where any “alleged remains” are. There are no witnesses to Anderson being at the address of Guttierrez’s apartment that May 17. There are no witnesses to him being suspicious, or covered in blood, she said.
No body. No human remains. No indication of cleaning up a crime scene.
“They don’t have any of that,” she said.
But Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley painted a picture of Anderson as a jealous, controlling ex-boyfriend. The prosecutor told jurors that Sadie Beacham, the mother of the defendant’s three children, broke things off with him because of the way he acted — coming and going from her home as he pleased, not contributing financially on a regular basis, and so on. Though she let him have contact with their children, “she was ready to move on,” Graveley said.
She met Gutierrez, the father of two children, through a dating website. But Anderson was allegedly overwhelmed with jealously and was controlling. He spied on Beacheam, even using their elder daughter (who was 11 and 12 during this entire ordeal) to help spy on her.
“I did it to please him,” the child told investigators, according to the prosecutor.
One day, before the daughter’s 12th birthday, Beacham’s children were going to spend time at their father’s home. Beacham invited Gutierrez to her residence. He joined her. And in the middle of the night, she woke up to hear a doorbell ring. She looked out to see a vehicle that looked like Anderson’s “squealing away,” the prosecutor said.
According to the state, the daughter said that her father had brought her along in that incident. Anderson allegedly planted a listening device in a vent at the residence, and he peeked through the windows and had his daughter look too. Inside, the girl saw her mother and a person she had not seen before, the prosecutor said. Anderson allegedly warned her against steaming up the window or else the others inside would see it.
Meanwhile, her 4-year-old twin siblings were at home unsupervised, the state said.
“I didn’t feel that was safe,” she said, according to the prosecutor.
Anderson pushed the door bell as a gesture to show he was in control, Graveley said.
In the aftermath of this incident, Beacham and Gutierrez discovered that Gutierrez’s truck had been entered. A letter and car registration was taken from the truck, the DA said.
According to the state, Anderson admitted to law enforcement that he had a “premonition” something was going on at the residence. He allegedly denied planting a listening device, but insisted he actually did bring the twins over there. The prosecutor emphasized that the incident was in the middle of the night.
Regarding spying efforts, the defendant purchased autotracking devices with voice-activated recording, the state said.
Anderson allegedly would say ugly things about Gutierrez, such as referring to him with racist language like “b–ner.”
Meanwhile, Beacham was hopeful that this relationship with Gutierrez — heretofore nonexclusive — might become something more serious. It meant a lot to her that he finally introduced her to his children: an 8-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. Gutierrez had been an “enthusiastic” coach to his son in baseball, the prosecutor said.
“Watching his son play baseball was one of the true pleasures of his life,” Graveley said.
Beacham, Gutierrez, and his children went out for ice cream.
“This is a truly meaningful moment in her life,” prosecutor said.
And it was the last time she saw Gutierrez. Their relationship had reached a point that they were in contact several times a day, so it was strange when he suddenly stopped communicating. Beacham drove from Milwaukee to Gutierrez’s apartment in Kenosha. It was there that she found his sliding door open and the scene closed. She looked inside to find a horrifying scene. Blood was everywhere in the apartment, the state said. It was even on the ceiling in multiple rooms. Blood was in areas such as the dining room table, kitchen counter, laptop, and pooled in the area by the entrance, the state said.
There was a small piece of wood that had Gutierrez’s blood and hair on it. There were splinters of wood and strands of hair on the couch. There were significant amounts of blood on the curtains. Blood seeped into the carpet and a couch. Graveley noted a rectangle-shaped area was left “pristine.” He suggested an area rug was removed.
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