Kelsey Burnette and Joseph Wielzen.
I wasn’t sure of this man’s race, so I went on VINELink to get an answer.
A few minutes of searching, and…
Ah, white.
Just as I suspected.
Joseph Wielzen is back in court Wednesday, as a judge continues to hear the motion to dismiss the case.
He’s charged with the 2017 rape and murder of Kelsey Burnette.
Wielzen’s attorneys say he’s innocent and his right to a speedy trial has been violated.
The crime happened more than two years ago on July 1st, 2017. Wielzen wasn’t formally charged until June of 2018, and wasn’t indicted until July of 2019.
But the state argues they’ve acted as quick as possible to figure out who killed Burnette.
On Friday, attorneys for both the state and the defense argued and even yelled at each other in the courtroom.
The defense called the TBI agent in charge of the case to testify. He said he has several homicide cases that have lasted more than two years like this one.
From an earlier report:
Burnette’s body was found July 1, 2017, by a passerby “stuffed in a trash can in a nearby alley,” records state. The final autopsy report showed fragments of her skull contained remnants of red and black paint officials said was consistent with the paint on the recovered bat. Burnette “was likely beaten to death using the baseball bat,” according to documents.
The autopsy showed that the main cause of her death was blunt-force head trauma including “multiple severe blows to the head,” and she had a “penetrating wound” on her left arm, documents state. The autopsy also showed Burnette had injuries the pathologist said were “evidence of sexual assault,” records state.