John Jefferson
Inset: Tracey Clark (Eau Claire Police Department). Background: The location where the body of Dennis Schattie was found (WLAX).
A Wisconsin woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the dismembered remains of her roommate were found in a plastic tarp along with financial documents proving she was the beneficiary of the victim’s annuity account.
Tracey Clark, 57, learned her fate on Tuesday in the death of Dennis Schattie, 79. She pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree reckless homicide. Her boyfriend, Brandon Gaston, 48, is set for trial in March. He’s accused of carrying out the grisly act.
“Brandon Gaston used a knife he had retrieved from somewhere in the house and began cutting off [Schattie’s] head and fingers,” Eau Claire County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Ronquist said, reported local NBC and The CW Plus affiliate WEAU.
Ronquist described the victim as kind and caring.
“He clearly cared for Miss Clark,” she said, reported local Fox affiliate WLAX. “By participating in this crime, Miss Clark allowed Dennis to be violently murdered in his own home. A place where he should have felt safe and at peace.”
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The outlet reported that Clark apologized in court, saying, “Denny was a good man and didn’t deserve this. He was kind. And understanding.”
The remains were uncovered on April 12, 2022, in the water near the rocks of a dam in the Rock River in Rockford, Illinois.
Citing a criminal complaint, local ABC affiliate WQOW reported that the remains were wrapped in a tarp. The victim’s dentures — which had his name stamped to them — were also found in that tarp, the outlet reported. His body appeared to have been cut with a saw and burned in several places, the station reported.
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Police quickly learned he had been killed at the home where he lived with Clark and Gaston in Altoona, Wisconsin, about 250 miles north of where Schattie’s body was found.
Authorities said Clark admitted to her role, telling authorities Gaston hit Schattie over the head with a hammer, then sexually assaulted her and forced her to bring the body to the garage, where it was dismembered.
She admitted to throwing Schattie’s head in the Rock River, Ronquist said.
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